


Silhouettes

by Jezzaanne



Series: Silhouette [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Gore, Horror, M/M, Multi, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-22
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 34
Words: 146,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jezzaanne/pseuds/Jezzaanne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas and Sora have moved to the old house on Twilight Hill. They didn't realise that it had been a Psychiatric hospital for mentally ill patients over a century ago. Patients that were cruelly and brutally murdered. Upon moving there, the brothers realise that something is indeed wrong and they are separated from their family as they choose sides of the conflicting Supernatural sides of the Spirits and the Silhouettes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The House on the Hill

_Legend says that both good and evil spirits haunt the Mansion up on the hill past Twilight Town._  
 _Rumours even have it, that people have vanished into thin air, never to be seen again._  
 _The Mansion has been through many, numerous ownership and some of the older generations of Twilight Town, say that the house is evil._  
 _Sometimes on a silent night, you can hear the terrifying screams and eerie noises the Spirits emit._  
 _The last owner had fled the house, claiming that she saw the Shadowed Spirits engulf and consume her husband._  
 _Non-believers become the believers and yet again, the doomed Mansion on the hill is up for sale, cheaper than any other house in Twilight Town._  
 _Waiting ever so patiently for its next family of victims._

***  
It was a bright sunny early afternoon when the car pulled up in the driveway.  
A sleek black sedan parked in the undercover drive and four doors opened instantaneously. 

“Oh thank God” a loud cry came out echoing in the trees, a spiky haired brunette appeared from the left hand side of the car and stumbled to unsteady feet. He stretched his arms high above his head until his shoulders popped and he groaned in relief.  
“This is great,” he groaned looking around to the passenger seat.  
His mother, Aerith appeared clutching a crumpled pillow and her bag.

Her green eyes instantly brightened when she saw the House and she said in a cheerful voice.  
“Oh isn’t this lovely, such a beautiful old house, it was up for so cheap as well.” She swooped to her eldest son wrapping her arms around him and said, “Sora, it’s a new life for us all.”

From the other side of the car, Sora’s younger brother Roxas appeared with a gloomy look on his face and a tired, frustrated looking father Cloud. Both vainly rubbed their face and looked up at the Mansion sighing, “When can we start to unpack?”

Aerith left her son and swooped to her husband fixing his crumpled shirt, “Well the movers don’t get here till later; we have the keys, so why don’t we go and look around?”  
Agreeing with the eccentric Aerith, her family was pulled along as if on strings and to the magnificent oaken doors of the Twilight Mansion.

“Oh honey, isn’t this grand? Better than the tiny place we used to live in at Hollow Bastion.” Aerith entered the entrance hall and spun around in a circle, “Oh positively beautiful.”  
Cloud dawdled in after his wife and looked around the dusty hall, “Well it could have been cleaned before we came here.”  
Aerith giggled and almost danced to her husband, “Oh it makes it all the more fun, who knows what we will find in such a large house like this?”

Rolling his eyes at the antics of his parents, the brothers, Roxas and Sora walked in and looked around the massive Entrance Hall, Sora called out, “Hello?”  
His voice echoed, reverberating off the roof banisters and around the cavernous room. Roxas hit his arm; his mouth pulled up in a scowl “Don’t do that you Dolt! Are you stupid?”

He looked up to the roof, his eyes travelling across the beams and down to the mouth of the stairs where he swore, he heard a groan. Roxas felt his legs tense up slightly, with a frown he nudged Sora and whispered, “Did you hear that?”

He got a goofy grin in response indicating that Sora had not heard a thing; with a sigh, he searched the staircase briefly once more.  
Seeing nothing

Aerith spun around to her boy's and said, “You better hurry boys, the Movers will be here soon. Quickly go choose your room; I hear there is one with an ensuite.”  
As she said this in her bright voice Roxas and Sora gazed at each other and Roxas shouted, “I want that room!”  
Both brothers thundered up the stairs.

“Shot Gun the room with the bathroom,” Sora shouted as they ran up the stairs making an awful racket. The loud rumbles and thuds echoed up the dark hall; that alone could have woken the dead.

“Sora you bastard, I want that room” Roxas exclaimed furiously trying to push from his brother.  
“I called the shotgun.”

Sora and Roxas ran up the stairs, as they reached the second story hall. They were greeted by pitch-blackness. The boys momentarily stopped before Sora groped around the wall for any signs of a light switch.

“It’s dusty” Roxas coughed, blinking around the darkness. Both Boys flinched when the light in the Hall suddenly burst to life in a buzzing of age-old light globes. The Hall was filthy, covered in blanket of thick dust and hanging cobwebs.  
Mice scampered away at the light and Roxas looked disgustedly at his Brother. “How does Dad let Mum get away with everything she wants?”

Sora shrugged, letting his hand drop from the filthy light switch “Are we seriously going to live in this? What was she thinking?”  
“Guess who is going to clean it?” Roxas sighed “I’ll probably die from an asthma attack before we even get settled in.”  
“But you don’t have asthma” Sora retorted, looking to his Brother. Roxas rolled his eyes, “I bet I will after cleaning this dump.”  
Sora left his sibling’s side and opened the first door. It opened with an insanely loud ‘Squeak’ and the door handle thudded against the wall when it opened.  
More darkness poured out and Sora audibly gulped before he hesitantly reached out to the frame and fumbled yet again for another light switch.

After a minute of fumbling, another light flickered on in the bedroom and the first thing Roxas saw was the adjoining bathroom.  
“Bastard” he breathed.  
However, Sora stepped back, a look of mild concern decorating his face. “It looks like a Mental Asylum room! I’m not surprised if there are bars on the windows.”  
The one light in the bedroom was high up on the ceiling, one of those rectangular fluorescent lights with the two long bulbs that flickered eerily around the room.

There was crude, grey carpet squares over the floor and the room was painted an eerie light green. The sounds of groaning pipes reverberated around the room and it instantly sent chills down Roxas’ spine.

“No way” he muttered, “You can have that room. That’s freaky.” The Blonde looked down the hall where there were numerous other doors. He left the doorframe of Sora’s ‘new’ room and opened the one next to it.

It wasn’t as crude as the other room, it was small and had concrete floor. It was freezing cold and Roxas instantly thought against it when he turned on the light. The light burst after a few moments of it being on, Roxas was plunged into darkness.  
With a small cry, he jumped from the room and slammed the door shut.

“It’s almost like a scene from a horror movie,” Sora muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Roxas saw the Goosebumps decorating his brother’s arms and he felt the familiar chill as he started to get them as well.

Crossing to the other side of the hallway, Roxas went to the room adjacent to the room Sora was debating whether to have. He reached and grasped the golden handle, then he swore it hummed underneath his hand.  
He twisted it, the rust giving way and screeching lightly. He pushed against the door but it seemed to be jammed. With a light frown, Roxas hit it with his shoulder and this time it gave way.  
Like the rest of the rooms and the Hallway, this room was incredibly dusty. It flew up in plumes around Roxas’ head, who began to cough and sputter as he glanced around the dusty room.

Unlike the two other creepy rooms, this room had crude wooden floors with a window on the opposite end of the room. Large black drapes obscured the light from the room, but tiny specks of sunlight shone around the edges.

The light switch was on the other side of the doorframe, temporarily throwing off a right handed Roxas before he finally found it. However, this light bulb didn’t even turn on when he flicked the switch.  
Gathering up his courage and relying on the light in the hall, Roxas strode into the room. His footsteps echoed over the wood, numerous creaks and groans filling the room. Before he got the willies and decided to chicken out, Roxas grabbed the dark drapes and wrenched them down.

More dust billowed up and the sunlight streamed in, illuminating the whole room. There was a tiny balcony over-looking the lawn and terraces.  
Roxas looked around the room and saw a small door that was obviously a wardrobe and nothing else. It was a bare, dusty, medium sized room.

Roxas felt a chill run up his spine sending him to the edge.  
He looked around feeling that he was being watched.  
He shook his head, ‘Don’t be a fool Roxas, there’s nobody in here.’  
Sweeping the dusty room once more and making his decision, he shouted, “I found my room.”

Sora walked across the room and peeked in, he still had his arms folded, shivering in the cold. He gave Roxas a small smile, “Good choice Roxas, I’ll go check the other room; I don’t want to particularly stay in this creepy room.”  
Sora left the doorframe and Roxas heard him open the other door beside his before his cry echoed out.

Roxas ran from the room and saw his older brother stumble from the bedroom, falling ass over head and hitting his head against the wall. He didn’t seem concerned about his head for the time being, his eyes were fixated on the room beside Roxas’.  
Roxas bit down the pooling fright; he crept forward before gazing into the room. Sora had turned on the light in this room. Like the room he had chosen, there were black drapes hanging over the windows.  
But they didn’t hide what the bedroom looked like. Roxas saw gauges and deep claw marks decorating up and down the walls of the room. Old, crumbling wallpaper lay in tatters on the floor and the floorboards were partially ripped up in chunks, revealing the concrete floor beneath.  
What gave Roxas the shiver were the claw marks that were in the concrete. Deep and clean claw marks.

There were echoes from the stairs, both Cloud and Aerith appeared and were greeted by the sight of Sora on the floor in a heap and Roxas looking pale with fright.  
“This place is an absolute mess,” Cloud said in disdain, as he looked over the hall “Do you really expect us to live here Aerith?”

Aerith had gone to Sora and was helping him up to his feet before her attention was bought before the room in front of her. Her green eyes widened, but seeing the fright in both of her son’s eyes, she consoled them instead. “Maybe it was a family of Raccoon’s or another pesky animal. I have seen the damage they can do. Don’t worry; I will be able to fix this up in no time.”

Sora got up with the aid of his Mother, rubbing the back of his head wearily “I don’t think I like this place Mum, It’s…creepy.”  
“Oh don’t say that” Aerith simply brushed him off “You are only getting the New-House willies. Once we get this place cleaned up, it will feel like home.”

As Aerith tried to quash the rising doubts in her family, in Roxas’ room there were whispered voices, watching the family with disgust.

**“That Blonde brats Room? Feh pitiful mundane”**   
**“We haven’t had a human venture over the borderline in over 30 years; do you think this is our chance?”**   
**“He will get him sooner or later, so why don’t we have some fun first?”**   
**“Oh it would be better if we could tease the whole family; his brother is on ‘their’ side looks like it.”**   
**“Well this is our side of the house; we can do whatever we want. They can’t stop us.”**

Cloud peered in the first room, poking his head in before pulling out and gesturing inside it. “Aerith, this room has furniture inside.”  
Aerith frowned “The Real-Estate said this house hasn’t been lived in for over thirty years. It’s supposed to be empty.”  
She strode up to her husband and stepped into the chilly room. Both of her son’s saw the Goosebumps rise on her arms.  
Cloud was right however, on the opposite end of the room, there were furniture piled up against the wall. A steel, springed bed with a thin, stained mattress, a white equally stained dresser and bedside table was there as well.

“Is this your room Sora?” Aerith said, turning her head to gaze at her eldest son. Sora looked uncomfortable, “I guess I don’t have a choice, so yeah, it’s my room.”  
Aerith smiled at him, “That’s fine; we will help you move it out. We can put it in the next room or something.”  
“No” Cloud said, “We aren’t keeping them, we’ll have to get a Skip Bin and throw them. I’m not keeping creepy artifacts if I have to live here.”

They all jumped when the door to Roxas’ room suddenly slammed shut. Roxas instantly made a grab for his Mother and Aerith sounded hesitant, “Well, the Movers aren’t here yet. How about we do some cleaning up here?”  
She sent her gaze to Sora and Roxas before adding, “I can stay downstairs and clean the Lounge-room and Kitchen.”

She received mutters in response and she clapped her hands in response, “Well let’s get to it?” she grabbed Cloud’s hand and they both clambered down the stairs, leaving Sora and Roxas standing in the hall. “She’s scared,” Sora muttered and Roxas only nodded in agreement.

*****

Roxas sighed and looked around the hall as his parents made their hasty departure. He caught sight of a small cupboard. Walking away from his brother and towards it, he wrenched it open only to be covered in cobwebs and spiders; he jumped away wiping himself and squirming.  
He hated spiders…and spider webs.  
“Well I better get in and get this room cleaned” Sora muttered, “I’m half tempted just to open the window and throw it out.” He sighed and shivered again “That’s if I had a window, not one that I can barely get my head out of.”  
Sora disappeared into his bedroom; he didn’t shut the door. He was going to do the same as Roxas. If anything spooked them, they could make a mad dash for the stairs.

Roxas looked back into the cupboard and saw old, but useful items in there. Like a broom. Satisfied he went back to his door and pulled it open, he went out to the balcony and beat the broom over the grass to rid of the dust. He spluttered as 30 years of dust rose up and he ducked back inside and began to sweep the floorboards.

**“What the hell is he doing?”**  
 **"He is sweeping the room”**  
 **“Ugh…like he’s cleaning?”**

Roxas saw nice mahogany floorboards under the blankets of dust and really pushed himself into it. He swept the dust out onto and off the balcony then dropped the broom when he saw the moving truck pull up into the drive.

He perked up immediately and slipping to regain composure, he bolted back into the hallway and nearly fell down the stairs.  
Sora was in his road to the front door and roughly, he pushed him aside, “Move” he barked jumping into the front courtyard and to the movers and his parents lifting the door to the truck.

He pushed into the front and heard his mother exclaim, “Roxas wait your turn!”  
She apologised to the Movers as Roxas scrambled aboard and grabbed what he wanted. A box with permanent marker scrawled on the side.

Roxas’ Shit FRAGILE

Carrying the box back up to the house Roxas walked back past Sora who snorted, “Oh typical of Roxas huh? Never around to help with anything else!”  
Roxas scoffed, “Piss off Sora, you wouldn’t know a thing about me.”

Making his careful way back to his room Roxas made it and gently placed the box on the floor. Ripping the taped lid open with his army knife that he had in his pocket, Roxas smiled and lifted out the first speaker to his stereo system.

He loved his music, he lived for it. It’s all he did, listen to music.  
He didn’t care if he didn’t have anything to sit it on; he plugged it all together and put the plug in the wall, groaning in satisfaction as the blue light blinked to life.  
Getting to his feet Roxas went over to his bag in the corner of the room and rummaged through it pulling out his next prized possession, his Ipod Touch.  
It had been run flat through the long trip up and Roxas was itching for music. He sat the Ipod in its slot and scrolled for the next song turning the volume up.  
The music blared to life shaking the windows in its panes and Roxas went back to the broom and began to sweep.  
He would get his other things when they made their way into the Courtyard.

**“Oh what is that horrible noise?”**  
 **“He likes music! I might like him already!”**  
 **“Great! Of course.”**

Roxas continued to sweep and when the song died down and went to play the next, Roxas jumped violently at the silence when he heard a noise. Dropping the broom, he shut the docking station down and peeked out into the hallway.

His ears had not deceived him, he had definitely heard footsteps.  
He knew everybody was still outside, he had seen them out in the Courtyard seconds before.  
It was nonsense, Roxas scolded himself mentally again, ‘Stop it; you just have the new house willies!’

Taking in a deep breath Roxas swept the remainder of his room. When he had done with his job he went back out, grabbed more and more boxes lugging them back to his room.  
As he pulled all the boxes up, it was up to the Movers to pull in all the furniture.  
The Family didn’t have much; they all lived in a small apartment back in Hollow Bastion.  
Roxas watched his bookshelf come in, and his cabinet for his TV, Then the parts of his bed.

It was the same for his parents and Brothers room, As Roxas had swept; Sora had pulled the scant furniture already in his room into the small room with the concrete floor. It had left trails in the dust, revealing more wooden floor.

When Cloud came in to assemble Roxas’ bed, Sora waited anxiously at the door, waiting for their Father to finish so he could help assemble his own bed.

Roxas thanked his Dad when his bed was made and began to rip open the remainder of the boxes scattered on the floor.  
He filled his bookshelf with the books he loved to read and made sure they were immaculate and ordered in series and height. In a way, Roxas could be mistaken for somebody who suffered from OCD.

**“Oh so he reads now too?”**  
 **“Whatever is the matter with reading?”**  
 **“Oh I forgot you were a Nutcase for Books.”**  
 **“Hey Zexy, he might have books that you will like.”**  
 **“Hush, quiet!”**

Roxas grimaced when his music came back on and Lady Gaga blared to life. He liked her music somewhat but he had to change it. As he walked over to the station, he heard a noise and spun around to the door to see Sora standing there with a smirk on his face. “Lady Gaga? Little bro, man you have taste.”

Roxas heard the sarcasm behind his voice and he snapped, “Shut the hell up jerk.” Sora chuckled, “Oh ever so angry little Roxy.” Roxas grew red and he had no come back, instead he spat “Get out of my room Sora!”

**“Ha Roxy huh?”**  
 **“Seems to be a pet name.”**  
 **“Oh, oh I know his real name, its Roxas.” **  
 **“Oh real smart Demyx. Gold star to you.”******

Sora left the doorframe laughing as Roxas hurled his shoe. It hit the wall with a loud ‘thud’ and fell with an equally loud thump. Roxas changed the song and growled to himself, “Out of all the people in the world why was I stuck with him?”

He threw the empty boxes out in the hallway and looked to his slowly progressing room. It still looked so bare, with what little items he had.  
Walking over to the pile of clothes and coat hangers, he began to pick them up and started to hang them in the wardrobe. He swung open the door and was greeted by a gush of warm air. 

Shaking his head, he hung his clothes up and went to set up his bedside table and TV cabinet. The lamp went on the bedside table and Roxas picked up his LCD screen and sat it on top of the cabinet.

**“He has one of those things.”**  
 **“It’s called a Television, if I recall.”**  
 **“Its way bigger than the little one that was here before.”**  
 **“A lot has changed out in the world Demyx.”**  
 **“I know that, just-…it’s exciting, that’s all.”**

*****

As the sun began to set on an early evening, Roxas turned on his lamp and turned down the volume of his music. The Movers had done their job and had left, muttering about how eerie the House was.  
Aerith, Cloud and Sora were still unpacking and Roxas was left with the arduous task of cleaning the Hall. True he had not dithered around and taken his time, he wanted things done.

Stretching out his aching bones and yawning loudly, Roxas walked to the Balcony and watched the sun set.  
The lawn was a little overgrown but incredibly green and Roxas was able to hear the water in a fountain somewhere out on the grass. He spotted it a moment later; it was massive but hidden behind a lot of grass and vines. Roxas saw a run-down gazebo with the roof missing before looking down to the start of the house. 

His gaze went up and up until he saw the roof overhanging a little. He frowned and got up, standing straight, looking at it intently. It was a wooden beam jutting out from underneath the roof that had been cut away. It was sticking out horizontally.

Odd

If that was there, it meant the House must have been part of something bigger. Back in the Past that was.  
Again banishing ridiculous thoughts, Roxas pondered on what to do with his new life. The Sunset behind a blanket of black and the air grew a little crisp. Roxas leant over the balcony railing watching nothing in particular.

Suddenly the balcony door slammed shut behind him.

Roxas stood straight spinning around, he heard his music being turned off and the lamp flickered and went off as well plunging the room into darkness.  
The curtains fluttered lightly before settling and Roxas barked automatically, “Sora!”  
Roxas felt the fear filling his chest and he wobbled to the door and opened it.  
His room was now bitter cold and he shivered. 

From the hall light Roxas was able to see a small shadow disappear down the hall and he growled through grit teeth, “You bastard.” He went to the hall and was shocked to find that it was totally empty.  
Frightened and still slightly frustrated Roxas went down the hall and clomped down the stairs.

**“Why did you do that for?”**  
 **“What, I was scaring him.”**  
 **“You succeeded as well you wretch.”**  
 **“So how come Axel gets to scare the kid and I don’t?”**  
 **“Demyx, it’s because you aren’t scary.”**  
 **“That’s not nice, I try.”**  
 **“You never try Demyx.”**

Stomping down the stairs and through the Entrance Hall Roxas ducked off into the Lounge-room where he saw Aerith and Sora watching Cloud move the TV.  
“That’s not funny!” he announced to Sora, who was standing behind the lounge watching Cloud. “You know I’m already spooked by this stupid house and you go do that!”  
“What did I do now?” Sora exclaimed, “I have been down here Roxas! Guess what! You aren’t the only one scared of this God Forsaken House. At least you have a room that doesn’t resemble a freaking Nutcase Room.”

“Can you two stop fighting?” Aerith said incredulously to her children, “Roxas, Sora has been down here with us the whole time. This house isn’t stupid or God Forsaken, it’s just the new house willies.”

“Stop saying that Mum!” Roxas snapped, “It’s more than the bloody new house willies, its seriously creeping me out. We shouldn’t have left Hollow Bastion to move into this trash heap.”

_“The younger brother isn’t nice is he?”_  
 _“He thinks his brother pulled a prank on him.”_  
 _“You do know that the blonde is on ‘their’ side?”_  
 _“That isn’t a good thing you know.”_  
 _“I feel sorry for that poor kid, he will be slaughtered.”_  
 _“Shh, they will hear you, be quiet.”_

Roxas left the area and into the kitchen. The fridge was set in and he opened the door to find it empty.  
What did he expect?  
He sighed and looked up to see Aerith walk and shake her head, “I will have to go shopping tomorrow.”

She picked her purse up and said, “I will get some Chinese, does that sound ok?”  
Roxas shrugged unhelpfully, stretching then yawned, “I’m actually pretty tired.”  
Aerith smiled and kissed her son’s head, “I bet we are all tired, we got a lot done today.”

She turned to leave and Roxas snorted, “Well we don’t have much anyway, the house is still empty.”

He was ignored and as he heard his mother, leave Roxas went back out to the entrance hall. He shivered violently; he wrapped his arms around himself remarking more so to himself.  
“It’s bloody freezing in here”. He walked up the stairs to retrieve a jacket.  
He was greeted by warm air upon walking into his room. He unwound himself and walked in, watching and sweeping the room cautiously.  
After all, the previous incident was only a prank played by Sora.  
Hadn’t it?

In a split second, Roxas decided he wasn’t hungry and he went onto his bed kicking off his shoes. Then he grabbed a book he had dog-eared and flopped back digging into the pages. 

He heard his name being called about 10 minutes later and he didn’t go down. So he was ignored.  
He grew tired after a while and unable to fight off the fatigue Roxas threw the book on his bedside table leaving it spine up in the air. He dozed off into sleep unaware of the shadows now looming around him.


	2. Me against the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a re-write of my work 'Silhouettes' still found on my Fanfiction account.  
> Scenes have changed and major mistakes have been changed.  
> I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, all rights still reserved to Square Enix :)  
> Feel free to leave a comment, old and new readers :P

“Roxas and Sora, it’s time to get up. We have to go into down and do some shopping today.”

His mother rapping on the door woke Roxas up that morning. Groaning heavily into his pillow, Roxas peeked up to see the time illuminated on the Stereo System and saw it was 7.AM  
Roxas groaned in protest again, adding a growl at the end and lied there with his face in buried in the pillow. 

**“What pathetic humans get up at this unnatural time of the morning?”**  
 **“Well not him for sure.”**  
 **“This is murder all over again.”**  
 **“Stop being so melodramatic Axel.”**

Finally having the initiative to get to his hands, Roxas got up yawned and then sat up in his bed. He was not a morning person; he was even crankier in the morning than any other time of the day. 

Morning Roxas was not meant to be messed with.

Yawning again, loudly. Roxas looked to his Stereo to see the time now.  
7:02  
He groaned then stopped in his complaining all tiredness running away, his eyes widening in shock.  
His book

It was shut and placed neatly where he had thrown it the previous night. He specifically remembered having the spine upwards but now it was closed. Cover up.

Weird.

Roxas got out of his bed, his feet touching warm wooden boards. He got up, fixed the elastic of his boxers, and wandered to his wardrobe. He wouldn’t bother with a shower in the morning; he would just opt out having one later on that night. 

He pulled open the doors and pulled out a pair of jeans and a Billabong shirt. He started to pull on his pants when he heard a shocked and loud yell erupt from Sora’s room.

“God Damn it, I hate this place” he hollered.  
Roxas heard Aerith come running from her room at the end of the Hall, opening the door to Sora’s bedroom. “Sora, are you alright?”

Roxas chuckled when he heard Sora yell, “Mum, the water’s brown! It’s DISGUSTING.” The Blonde slung his shirt on and left it open, striding to his bedroom door, he opened it to see Aerith standing in the doorframe of Sora’s room.

Sora was standing there adamantly in his blue pyjama pants, arms gestured out to his bathroom and his towel thrown to the floor.  
“I turned the handle on the shower and the water was brown and yuck” he complained and their Mother just laughed it off, much to Sora’s rising anger.  
“It’s just old pipes being used again, its dirt, just let the water run for a little while before you get in.”  
As Aerith made her way down the stairs, Sora pulled a face at her back and grumbled “Just old pipes my ass, she wouldn’t be laughing if it happened to her.” He leant out the doorframe and shouted after Aerith, “I’m not having a shower then!”

He glared at Roxas across the hall at his laugh and pouted, “Don’t laugh at me Roxas.”  
The blonde brother took no heed and chuckled to himself pulling on the shirt and buttoning it up. 

**“Hey the guys a bastard, I like him already.”**   
**“Great we just want another one of ‘him’.”**   
**“Are you going to be his friend Axel? Saix said-”**   
**“Shut up, I don’t listen to that mongrel.”**

_“Riku they’re in there, I see the three.”_  
 _“Alright Kairi, its ok they can’t do anything.”_  
 _“Axel likes him; I don’t want to see the poor boy killed.”_  
 _“I know, it’s not pleasant is it?”_  
 _“I just hate them so much, I hate living a second life in fear.”_

Sora shivered as the air around him went cold. Goosebumps rose instantly down his arms and he grumbled, “Gods, to top it off, it immediately gets cold.” He walked back into his room slamming the door, “I should have forced Roxas to have this room” he grouched to himself. He went to his clothes box in the corner of the room, “And now! Shopping, can it get any worse?”

Roxas grabbed his wallet and his phone and jammed them in his pocket as Sora came down the stairs. He mussed his hair and groaned miserably “I feel like shit. The dust is getting to my head.”  
As if in response, Sora sniffled, his voice sounding high. “I hear you bro. I’m gunna get a headache if my head stays clogged like this.”

Aerith beamed from the kitchen “Oh brilliant, are we ready to go?”  
Sora frowned and Roxas asked, “Why do we need to leave so early Mum?”  
Aerith grabbed her handbag and looked to them and gushed, “Oh well, it takes half an hour to go around the whole hill and get into Twilight Town in the car.”  
Sora and Roxas looked to each other and Roxas said, “Why don’t we walk through the forest? It will take ten minutes.”

Aerith looked scared then and she said, “I don’t like the forest, I would like the car better.”  
Her sons agreed with bewildered looks on their faces and she said adding, “And I thought it would be nice to get breakfast, I saw a nice little café downtown, it’s so adorable.” She went to the front doors, pulled them open, and walked down the stairs.  
Roxas and Sora shrugged to each other and followed their mother, shutting the doors behind them.

*****

Twilight Town was sleepy a sleepy town, there was little traffic when the family of three pulled into the main street later on that morning.  
“Oh my” Aerith muttered as she saw all the pedestrians, “They must not use cars very often, they must walk everywhere.”

She turned in the seat to look at Roxas, who simply shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe we should have walked then Mum?”  
Aerith shook her head furiously and pulled into an empty car spot in front a small dainty café.  
“Come on” Aerith beamed grabbing her bag and getting out of the car.

Her sons followed suit and they walked into the café hearing a little bell ring as they walked in.  
Roxas caught sight of the time as they walked in, seven ‘o’ clock had been the time they had gotten up. Sora had taken his time and was around twenty past seven was when they walked out of the door. The initial half hour took an hour as Aerith got confused and got herself lost. So as Roxas looked up to see the clock he saw the time 8:20.

He looked back down and saw a cheery brunette girl behind the counter.  
“Good Morning” she greeted, “How may I help you today?”  
Roxas grimaced at her cheeriness, how could one person be happy at this time of morning? Even happy go lucky Sora was a grouch in the morning. 

“Oh such a nice girl” Aerith smiled, Roxas rolled his eyes, his Mother and the Waitress had something in common. An idiot sense of a good mood.  
He looked at the menu situated on the wall behind the Waitress and decided to get himself a bacon and egg roll.  
He looked back to the girl and caught sight of her nametag, ‘Olette.’

She smiled at him as he placed his order, then his mother and Sora’s order. She took their orders and told them to sit down at a table.  
As they took a seat, Aerith looked to her sons and said, “See! That nice young lady is working hard during the summer holidays, you two really need to perk up and start to do something with your lives.”

Sora pouted, “Mum! We moved here like yesterday and as I do recall we did have lives. I had a girlfriend and Roxas was shy about coming out of closet. Remember? Or have you already forgotten?”  
Roxas kicked his brother under the table, Sora would never let him live it down about him being a Bi-Sexual. Sora chuckled and Aerith shook her head, “Boys, we moved here so we can start again and be a proper family.”

Sora sent a glance to Roxas and both of the Boys sighed, “Yes Mum” they chorused “You done it for the well-being of the family.”  
They sat in an awkward silence for about ten minutes before Sora perked up with a smile.  
“Hey, foods here.”

The Waitress, Olette gave them their dishes and she couldn’t help but ask, “I couldn’t help but overhear that you moved here?” Aerith nodded, “Oh yes we did, my husband and I” she gestured to her boys, “These are my two sons, we moved from Hollow Bastion.”  
Olette’s eyes flickered to the brother and Sora held up his hand in greeting “Hi” he said, “I’m Sora.” Roxas rolled his eyes and looked up at her briefly “Roxas.” Aerith’s scrutinizing gaze left them.  
“The City?” she asked eagerly, Roxas poked his food and nodded, he pointed to Aerith, “She wanted to move to the country.”  
Aerith frowned at him and Olette sighed, “I would like to go to see Hollow Bastion but I like it here in Twilight Town, I grew up here.” She smiled and said, “Oh well, I have work it was nice meeting you.”

She fixed up her apron and scuttled off back behind the counter.  
Aerith turned to her Boys, “You could have been more polite you two.”  
Sora flung out his arms, “I barely said anything! Besides, she was the one snooping around on our conversation.”

Aerith looked back down to her croissant and Sora stuffed his face full of pancakes.  
Roxas huffed out in annoyance, picked up his roll, and began to eat it.  
His family was so dysfunctional it was hard to believe. He looked up to see Olette talking to another Waitress, gesturing to them giggling and going red. 

Roxas groaned inwardly, not a doubt that the brunette bimbo would ask Sora for his number and they would hook up until Sora lost interest.  
Going back to eating his breakfast Roxas was aware of other people looking at them as the café started to fill up. 

He noticed that his Mother knew as well. She daintily finished her breakfast and a kind old lady sitting at the table beside them leant over and greeted Aerith.  
“I haven’t seen you and your boys before, where did you move from?”

Aerith went slightly pink and she said “Oh we moved from Hollow Bastion.” The woman smiled and said, “What lovely part of the neighborhood did you move to?”  
Aerith delighted at being conversed in conversation to said a little too quickly, “We bought that lovely old house up on Twilight Hill-” she was cut short by the lady pulling back looking concerned.  
“You shouldn’t move into that house dear.”  
She looked concerned and that caught the attention of Sora and Roxas. 

Aerith stuttered a response but the lady cut in. “I have lived a good long life, but that house has ruined how I have lived” she leant back, “Dear that house is haunted, my Uncle bless his soul was murdered in that house by walking shadows.”  
She shook her head sadly, “Brutally murdered he was, it left my poor Aunt frazzled and she ended up taking her own life.”

Aerith looked frightened now and now Roxas was growing uncertain, he knew that house had been weird.  
The lady nods, “I’m warning you, it’s a dangerous place to live, back in the day it used to be a Psychiatric Asylum and many people died up there, the last death were of two sisters, then they shut it down and made it into a residence, they say the troubled Spirits never left.”

Sora dropped his fork; it clattered to his plate with a racket as he stared at the older woman. Roxas was put off his food and his stomach churned uncomfortably, “Mum?” he looked to his Mother who smiled lightly “Well that’s a nice local legend isn’t it? Thankyou for sharing it with us.” 

She grabbed her bag and stood up grabbing Roxas and Sora by an arm each, “Come on boys, we have a long day of shopping ahead of us.” She pulled them to the door and walked outside.

“I told you” Sora instantly accused “Did you have a good look at the bedroom I have to live in? A fucking Psychiatric Asylum Mum! What was going through your mind when you decided to buy it?”

“Was she right about the place being haunted?” Roxas asked.  
Aerith shook her head “It was nonsense honey, it’s not true. They do it to scare new people away.”

“But she was right about the Asylum but?” Sora countered, “There could be fucking ghosts in there. Spastic ones! Walking Shadows? I don’t think she was lying.”  
Roxas began to feel uncomfortable as he recalled what had happed to him last night when the doors had slammed shut on him, The Shadow that had walked away down the hall and disappeared.

People in the street were beginning to stare at the scene between the three. Aerith turned on Sora. “I didn’t know that it was a Mental Asylum Sora, at least be considerate of my thoughts. I was doing best for the Family.”

“Oh so we can become food for the shadows huh?” Sora shouted “That’s probably why its so cold at fucking night time! I have a ghost breathing down my neck!”

“Stop it!” Roxas cried “Stop talking about ghosts and walking shadows! Are you trying to purposely scare me now?”  
Sora scoffed, “Oh is widdle Roxy bear scared of ghosts”? he snarked pulling a wicked grin. 

 

Roxas frowned and spun around hitting Sora in the face, “Shutup Sora, shut the FUCK up”! Sora jumped back and Aerith gasped in shock, “Roxas”!?  
“You know I hate stories of the Supernatural” he shouted exasperatedly “I hate Ghosts! Stop fucking with me!”

The Blonde wasn’t ashamed and he shouted in the middle of the street, “all he has done since we got here is be a prick, fucking mess with me again Sora and I will beat the shit out of you.”  
Roxas had angry tears stinging his eyes, “You both know I hate stories about Ghosts and yet you still do it!” he looked to Aerith looking betrayed “You were supposed to stop it Mum, but you have done it all over again.”

Before his mother could grab him Roxas turned heel and raced down the street, he didn’t know where he was going, nor did he care. 

Aerith turned to Sora irritably, “You know full well teasing him sends him over the edge, why, why do you do that?”  
Sora gazed up at his mother and shrugged, “I guess I find it fun to rev him up Mum, but I didn’t expect him to hit me and run away.”

Aerith pinched the bridge of her nose, going red from all the attention the Street was giving her. “You know he hasn’t been the same after you locked him in the photography black room at school.”  
Sora rubbed the lump on his cheek, “I didn’t know he was going to be scarred about it Mum. I have said sorry a thousand times, you still won’t let it go?”  
“You played cruel pranks on him Sora!” Aerith sighed, “Now he thinks it’s my fault” she raised her head “He won’t come back now, so I have to get things without him.”

Sora opened his mouth to protest and exclaim but Aerith put her hand up, “No more noise from you young man, I don’t want a word out of you unless I ask you a question! You hear me?”  
Sora rolled his eyes and Aerith snapped, “do I make myself clear?”  
Sora sighed and nodded his head, so Mother and son minus one went down the street.

*****

Roxas continually hit dead ends in Twilight Town, growing more and more frustrated when he couldn’t find a way out.  
Sora had frightened him and in turn, pissed him off.

He ran down the Tram Tracks until he paused at a large crack in the wall. He stopped blinking his eyes when he saw the lush green foliage outside of the wall.

He went forward one step and made the haste decision to walk out. He was pretty sure that this was the forest you could cross and make it to the house in record time. 

If his Mother was not such a coward they could get everything done so much quicker.  
Walking out into the dappled sunlight through the canopy of trees Roxas lowered his head and began to walk over the grass walking uphill to reach Twilight Hill.

After about ten minutes of walking uphill Roxas walked up the long luxurious driveway, up the front steps only to find that the door was locked.

“Ah no, Gods Dammit” Roxas shouted pounding his fists against the door, his Father must have gotten up after they had left and went on his own ventures.  
So now, Roxas found himself very much locked out of the house.

Sighing in defeat Roxas walked back down the front step grumbling incoherently to himself before he froze at the noise that erupted out from behind him.  
Unable to breathe properly Roxas craned his neck to see the elegant old-fashioned front door swing open without a noise.

That door had been locked.

Turning his upper body around Roxas saw that the door was open and he could see into the front entrance of the Mansion. His legs stiffened painfully and Roxas was able to feel the adrenaline start to pound through his veins. This was not normal.  
What if that woman had been right about ghosts living in the house.

“Stop it Roxas, you are being absurd. There is no such thing as ghosts, pull your head in.”  
Roxas scolded himself and letting out a heavy sigh went back up the steps and went back into the house. He shut the door behind him making sure that it clicked back into its place and noticed that the hall was indeed very warm. 

Roxas shook his head of any stupid ideas and walked from the entrance hall to the entrance of the kitchen where the temperature dropped dramatically. Roxas could see his breath snaking out from his mouth and felt more fear rise up in through him.  
This house was not normal and now it had succeeded in terrifying the utter shit out of him. Forgetting his intentions Roxas turned on his heels and ran from the kitchen cascading up the stairs that caused a terrible racket.

**“Do you think he is suspecting that this place is not of the natural?”**  
 **“Why do you speak so funny Zexion?”**  
 **“Hush Demyx, that is not important. What do you think Axel?"**  
 **“Well getting up into the Town he would have definitely heard the shit that spirals down there.”**

_“Oh my Gods, did you hear that? They think the boys have already heard about us?”_  
 _“Kairi, shush, I don’t know if that is a good thing or not, especially with the brother Roxas.”_  
 _“Naminé is right Kairi, but we shouldn’t intercede directly with ‘Them’, we need to think of our safety as well.”_

Roxas slammed his door shut and raced to his bed throwing his face into his pillow. His nose scrunched painfully as he landed and he tried to ignore the sharp pain that followed after it.  
What the hell was going on? He didn’t know whether to believe what he had heard.

The house was old, needed some maintenance but some things he had just witnessed where not of old house parts. The door had definitely been locked, he had tried it. 

It had opened as if someone had pulled it in from the inside.

The heating of the house couldn’t abruptly change from the entrance hall to the kitchen. That couldn’t be a fault in the heating was there?

Lifting his spinning head, Roxas felt his cheeks burning up as the heat increased in his room. Huffing he got to his feet; he went to the door and opened it letting a slight draft billow into the room. The curtains fluttered lightly and Roxas walked out onto the balcony and looked over the overgrown lawn.

He saw his Father’s ride-on Mower and thought snidely that his dad actually had the initiative to get up and help with the housework, or the lawn work at least. 

Taking in a few deep breaths Roxas tried to swallow the fear that had burst to life in his chest. It clogged his throat and he coughed at an imaginary obstruction in his throat.  
Turning back into his room Roxas went to his bedside table and flicked on the docking station.  
Music would calm his frazzled nerves, it always had.

Roxas paused and frowned picking up the remote and shutting the music off. Would this freaky shit cease to leave him alone?

**“Why did you do that for Axel? That sounded like a good song.”**  
 **“I’m only having some fun!”**  
 **“Yes, well if the others find out about these little charades you are putting on with this kid, we will all be in serious strife.”**  
 **“Oh let it go Zexion you pessimist, it’s my room, I can do whatever I want, this kid is invading ‘my’ space.”**

Roxas watched the curtains some more then clicked back on the music this time walking to his bookshelf and pulling out some empty exercise books and slamming them down on his desk.  
He turned the music back on and the song blared to life.

 

**“Wow what’s this song?”**  
 **“It’s very much like our predicament isn’t it?”**  
 **“Shut up let me listen to this song.”**

 

**“Hey it’s like Xemnas and Saix isn’t it guys?”**  
 **“Demyx Shut up! I’m trying to listen.”**  
 **“Jeez sorry Axel”**

 

**“It describes us doesn’t it?”**  
 **“Yay, he speaks.”**  
 **“It’s horrible to finally know that we are monsters.”**  
 **“Hey, we aren’t the monsters, its ‘them’.”**  
 **“We have our bad times, Axel but you can’t keep defending what we are, this is our punishment.”**  
 **“This is hardly punishment, we were killed by that fucking bastard living in up in that attic and he thinks everything will be fine and dandy until we are all destroyed.”**

**“Sometimes I like what I am though guys.”**  
 **“Demyx you are being just as foolhardy as Axel, we aren’t ‘good’ we don’t live in the ‘light’, this is our punishment, it was our certain doom that reduced us to this, this isn’t a matter liking at what we are.”**  
 **“Shut up Zexion, we are demons, that’s what the others are.”**  
 **“Don’t tell him to shut up Axel, we aren’t like the others, I know it, we aren’t demons on the inside”.**  
 **“Oh Demyx if only we were as optimistic about our fate as you were, but I’m afraid this isn’t going to go well at all.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music that inspired this chapter:  
> Take my Hand  
> Me against the World- Both by Simple Plan


	3. Fear, Burns and the Feeling of Emptiness

_“Axel is homing on in the attack, Riku we need to do something.”_  
 _“Kairi, we are restricted to one side of the house, I do not know how many times I have to say that.”_  
 _“Riku, Kairi, please don’t fight. We need to protect the family, they are so clueless. I also sense movement up in the attic.”_

Sora took a nice long shower that night, luxuriating in the warmth of the hot water. His dad had said snidely that Sora would try to boil himself of any existence in a hot shower.  
That day had been totally a waste of time and a total drag.

After Roxas’ little spat in town, his mother gave him the silent treatment.  
Man didn’t that make both Roxas and Sora feel utterly bad and guilt tripped. 

Aerith was a bright person and not much could sway her. But when she was giving the silent treatment to both her boys, it meant she was terribly upset.

Swearing as he turned off the hot tap in his bathroom, as he stepped out into the freezing air of his bedroom he could hear the thumping music from across the hall in his Brothers room.

Apart from an angry Aerith, an angry Roxas was just as bad. Roxas just knew how to express his anger, that’s all.  
Sora fidgeted with his towel, his arms shuddering once before all the hair on his arm stood straight up stiff and was covered in Goosebumps.  
Walking to the box, still full of clothes, (with more added). Sora rummaged around in the dimness of his flickering old light, into the box before pulling out his blue pyjama pants and a long T-shirt.  
‘A bloody Spastic Ward’ he thought with a violent shiver as he looked around his bedroom. ‘Just what we needed to soothe Roxas’ fears Mum. Bloody good one.”

He was dressed within a minute. Unable to bear the cold, Sora pulled out some clean white socks and slipped them on, before sliding over the wood and across the hall to peek into Roxas’ room.

Sora sighed and pushed open the door to see his brother flicking through channels on the TV looking incredibly bored, he looked up abruptly, his face turning into a scowl just as the lyrics of the song burst into the chorus.

 

**“Look, look, Axel it’s the Brother! He has come into the bedroom!”**  
 **“Wanna have some fun then Demyx?”**  
 **“Absolutely not! Have you not noticed that Xemnas is stirring up in that attic, it will be anytime now that he will descend down and torture not only us, but the others as well.”**  
 **“You’re such a killjoy Zexy.”**

Sora walked over to the TV and switched it off ignoring the complaints that were being lashed out by his nasty blonde brother. Roxas huffed indignantly sitting up on his bed staring at his brother and turned to his docking station as the song continued to chorus. 

**“Why does all his music have to make sense? I don’t like it anymore; it’s just making me remember that we were the ones left abandoned!”**  
 **“Oh shut up, Demyx, our whole second life has not made sense. We were murdered because of that.”**  
 **“Zexion, shut your overly large mouth before I pull your tongue out, Xemnas won’t step foot on my turf, Demyx can say whatever he wants.”**

Sora scowled looking around the room and retorted in a hard voice, “Do you have a heater or something in your room Roxas?”  
The blonde rolled his eyes and said in a sharp voice, “You are a complete prick you know that Sora? And No! I don’t have a heater in here, why? Are you jealous cause I have a better room than you?”

**“Hell yeah!”**

Sora frowned down at his little brother and said, “You better shut your mouth you little rat, before I pound the daylights out of you.”  
Roxas hopped of his bed his face going a shade of pink before he thrust his finger towards the door, “Get the hell out of my room Sora, I hate you.”

**“Ooh, somebody is getting maaddd.”**  
 **“Axel please don’t do what I think you want to do.”**

Roxas lurched forward ready to spring on his brother, but he found Sora to be jerked back and he went sprawling heavily out into the hallway, making a large audible thump as he did so.

Roxas swore his hands had not touched his brother.  
Sora stumbled to his feet, his face going red instead of pink and he snarled through grit teeth, “You fucking moron, you didn’t have to bloody push me.” Roxas just smirked from the frame of his door and said pretending to look at his nails,  
“You deserved it.”

Sora got to his feet and running towards the door, Roxas jumped back his blue eyes going wider. So as he went back:  
The door slammed shut on Sora’s face.

Sora stumbled back in surprise; Roxas hadn’t been near the door. It bloody swung shut with some force as well.  
The brunette rubbed his nose staring at the wooden door some more before he felt the floor underneath him begin to burn the soles of his feet. He jumped up in alarm, refraining from crying out like a girl and jumped back to his bedroom door.

The heat immediately ceased and Sora felt his heels stinging painfully.  
He looked back to Roxas’ door, the music went pumping again and shaking his head disbelievingly and racing down the stairs Sora careened into his father at the bottom.

Cloud looked highly irritated when he glanced down at his eldest son then said in a growling voice, “What is Roxas doing? He is going to get himself deaf before he even turns twenty!”

Cloud pushed Sora away and went to walk up the stairs and Sora found himself flinging out saying desperately, “Dad!”  
He stopped immediately drawing back when his father pulled himself away from his grip and Sora felt like a total moron.  
Pulling away Sora looked to his feet and muttered hastily, “I-I’m sorry Dad.”

He hopped his weight to the other foot as the other one had begun to throb in pain and Sora let his Dad venture back up the stairs.  
Well at least Sora could smirk when his little arsehole of a brother got into trouble.  
Sora wandered into the equally chilly kitchen and glanced at the time illuminated on the microwave.

6:27

He went to the fridge and opened it; he pulled a bottle of Sunkist from the fridge door and popped the lid taking a large swig. The bubbles stung his throat and he crinkled his nose as he put the bottle back in its respectful place.

He shut it to find Aerith at the kitchen sink with her hands on her hips, a disapproving look in her face. She shook her head and said in a sharp voice, “Males are disgusting, why do you do that for Sora? Are you just out to make my life hell for moving you away from Hollow Bastion?”

She didn’t wait for an answer; shaking her head again, she turned back towards the sink where Sora saw a full chicken on a cutting board. He opened his mouth and shut it unsure of what to say.  
He shut it and considered his chances of getting his mother to love him again.  
After a moment of silence, Sora opened his mouth again and asked in a soft voice,  
“Do you need any help there mum?”  
She didn’t answer him right away.

Sora shook his head cursing at himself before he heard his mother spin around and say in a softer voice. “Can you help peel some vegetables Sora?”  
Sora obliged immediately and he went to get the peeler from the top drawer. As he approached Aerith, she kissed his forehead and smiled. “I knew that you would try anything for me to crack.”

She turned back to the chicken and Sora chuckled, “I think you know me far too well Mum.” Aerith smiled quickly giving a glance to her son then admitted more so to herself, “Oh well I wish Roxas was a bit more like you.” She lifted her head rephrasing what she just said then added quickly.  
“Help wise, that is.”

Sora hopped back to the other foot.  
Aerith giggled slightly before moving the chicken to a tray and putting it into the oven. She straightened up and smiled at her eldest son peeling the vegetables, then wrinkled her nose.  
“Why do I smell like something is burning”? She spun around the kitchen and Sora realised with a red face that it might be his feet. Hesitantly he lifted his left foot and quickly glanced down at it.

He was utterly shocked at what he saw  
The sock had been completely burnt off and the soles of his feet were a sticky, sore and red.  
Aerith jumped about a mile in the air when she saw Sora’s feet and she fussed, “Oh my goodness, Sora, oh my- what happened”?  
Before the brunette could say, what had happened his mother had swooped to the cupboard over the oven and pulled down the first aid kit.

Roxas and Cloud came down an instant later, Roxas retorted, “Mum, you’re food’s burning.” Aerith clicked her tongue and retorted, “It’s your brother’s feet!”  
Roxas came into the kitchen and glanced down at the burned feet, wincing away as he did so.  
“Bloody Ouch?”

Sora was gestured over to the island bar and he sat up on it as Aerith peeled the socks off delicately. The minute the cloth came away, Sora’s feet started to pour blood, splattering over the pristine white, kitchen tiles.  
Roxas heaved in a breath before he started to retch and gasp, his face draining of any colour. He stumbled against the bench and Cloud grunted turning his gaze away, “Honey, not on the table, this is where we eat.”

Aerith ignored the complaints and antics of her boys and fought back tears as the socks came away.  
Sora cringed in pain, his feet hurt like hell now. Like he had been forced to run across boards with glass shards on it. On top of that, they were horribly burnt. 

_“He’s been attacked! What do we do?”_  
 _“Oh, so Riku is allowed to panic and I’m not?”_  
 _“Shut up Kairi.”_  
 _“Somebody get Zack.”_  
 _“Kairi will, Zack will help with the burns.”_  
 _“I knew Axel would try sooner or later, he is such a bastard.”_  
 _“Jeez Naminé, settle down, don’t copy the foul language coming out of those siblings mouths."_  
 _“What’s going on here?”_  
 _“Zack! Axel has hurt the boy in our protection, he burnt his feet.”_  
 _“If they are acting up, being mischievous it won’t be long until they start to feel the blood lust rise, then we will be forced to re-live the bloodbath that happened thirty years ago.”_

Sora yelled out in pain as Aerith put some antiseptic cream on his burns. Aerith looked worried, “Maybe we need to go to the hospital?”  
Sora cringed and said, “Mum, its only hurting because you’re touching it!"

He jerked his foot away and saw the ugly red welts burned right into the soles of his feet.  
Roxas retched again staggering from the kitchen and Cloud averted is eyes and snapped,  
“What are you going to do about it Aerith? Do you want to take him to the hospital or not?”

Both father and son looked back to mother and sibling in the kitchen and Aerith bit her lip, fighting with decisions that swirled around in her head.  
Sora fought with the utter pain that whip lashed right through his feet and saw more blood oozing out from a welt that had been oozing and weeping. He didn’t want to go to the hospital. It was only burned feet.

He went to protest and say that he would be ok, but there was a reply from a chalky faced Roxas. Who had managed to stutter out.  
“It may look alright to you Sora, but in our eyes… You need to go to the doctor.”  
Aerith pursed her lips and stood straight looking to each individual member of her family before stating, “I’m going to take him, his feet look horrible, I bet it’s that ancient heating in the floors.”

She went to grab her purse before shooting a glance to Cloud.  
“I want you to pull up those floorboards and fix that wretched heating, Roxas might hurt himself next.”

She offered Sora her shoulder; he hopped off the table lightly cringing at his sore feet. Aerith clicked her tongue and said briskly, “Cloud pick him up please? He can’t walk for the life of him.”  
She didn’t wait for a reply. Cloud picked up his eldest son bridal style and took him to the front door with Aerith fussing the whole way.

_“Is that a good thing?”_  
 _“You’re just going to let him go like that?”_  
 _“Roxas… The brother, he will be next, Oh Riku we have to do something!”_  
 _“Girls, no, Naminé, you have never taken heed of the rules, ‘they’ are dangerous, and now with this blood being spilt, it will be in complete turmoil.”_  
 _“Riku, they’re here.”_

**“They are going against us.”**  
 **“They’re Spirits!”**  
 **“You don’t think they are going to take Roxas away from our bedroom?”**  
 **“No, I don’t think they will have the power to do that.”**  
 **"Hey what the hell? _your_ bedroom? Get lost! It's my bedroom!"**  
 **“Hello everybody. Hmmm do you smell that blood? What happened to the brunette human?”**  
 **“Hey Xiggy, Yeah, Axel burnt his feet beyond oblivion.”**  
 **“The others are stirring Zexion; ‘he’ will destroy us all if we step out of line.”**  
 **“Axel is keeping the boy alive; I sense there is a reason behind it.”**  
 **“Why does Axel care? He can’t, he got his heart cut-”**  
 **“Xigbar, shush, I don’t like that story.”**  
 **“Sorry Dem.”**

Roxas watched Aerith, Cloud and Sora leave the house and disappeared into the darkness. When had that happened? Sora had only been at his bedroom door minutes before.  
When he thought Roxas had pushed him out of his room.  
Which he hadn’t.

Roxas walked back into the kitchen where he saw the red painted tiles. The blood had dripped down the cupboards and pooled at the bench, a bright crimson slowly turning dark.  
Trying to hide the revulsion that was building in his chest Roxas pushed himself to the sink and saw the oven on with dinner inside. He bit his lip and pushed the timer, the chicken would be cooked in little over an hour and a half.

He saw the half-peeled vegetables on the cutting board, Roxas bit his lip before making the decision to peel the rest and cut them. He would have to put in charge while the rest of his family went to the hospital.  
Leaving him very much alone in a creepy house.

_“Hey, Kairi, look at the boy. I never realised how cute he looked up close.”_  
 _“Oh Naminé, don’t get too close. I can feel the heat rolling off him, that’s getting too close for my comfort.”_  
 _“You have let Riku get to you Kai; I can’t stand back and watch everybody die again.”_  
 _“Naminé, you have let yourself get too reckless, they are dangerous can’t you figure that out? They-will-kill-you.”_  
 _“She won’t.”_  
 _“I know she was your sister Nam, but even if she saw you, she will destroy you as well.”_

**“Where’s Axel?”**  
 **“He is in his room, he hasn’t been himself lately.”**  
 **“He was never himself Zex, he is an empty shell, I don’t know why you persist in trying to befriend him, he doesn’t feel, he doesn’t care, he never will.”**  
 **“There is always a chance, he might open up Xigbar, I always think that.”**  
 **“You’re wrong, Axel is a failed experiment, Xemnas wanted him to suffer. That’s why he did what he did. We were lucky Zex; don’t bring yourself down to Axel’s level.”**

Roxas put the cut up vegetables in a pot and placed it on the cold stovetop. It would be a while since anyone did anything. He felt a cold shudder rip up his arm and his teeth immediately clacked together. It was freezing!

He spun around glancing around the kitchen, there was nobody in there. As usual, but these funny feelings were just heightening his crazed nerves and scaring Roxas to the end that he might just break down and snap.

Another tingle went down his spine, like people were watching him. The hairs on his neck stood straight and he shivered suddenly feeling the terrible urge just to get out of this kitchen.

Shaking his head, Roxas swore to himself and fighting down his flight response he forced himself to walk out of the kitchen, slowly and taking even steps.  
In his mind, he just wanted to scream out in terror, bolt right back up the stairs, and hide under his blankets. 

But he was seventeen for crying out loud, that was a childish thing to do.  
Walking to the foot of the stairs Roxas walked halfway up.

When he was out of sight, Roxas nearly jumped the other half of the staircase, ran to his nice, comfortable warm room, and threw himself on his bed.  
He looked at the blank TV screen thinking of what had just happened. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but to be risked being laughed and ridiculed at? He didn’t want that.

But that lady had said that this wasn’t normal. And boy had she been right.  
Roxas heaved in a breath, hauled himself to his feet, walked over to his jumbled mess of a desk, and looked down at what was on it.  
Lyrics to a nameless song, chapters to a book that would never cease to exist, words that had no real meaning.  
Quotes that reflected his inner self.

He sat down on his desk chair, spinning around in a circle before setting himself back at the mess of papers on the desk. He scanned over some chewing on the end of his pen.  
A habit he had when he wrote, many pens had been destroyed this way.

Quickly being absorbed into the depths of his imagination, Roxas jumped a foot in the air, flailing and jumping onto his feet when his docking station suddenly blared to life.  
Roxas felt his heart constrict painfully, throbbing in his throat.

He swallowed, failing miserably at trying to control his fear. His station was broken, it had to be.  
It was broken.  
His Ipod played steadily, playing ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and he listened to the chorus.

Shaking his head, Roxas cursed.  
“Fucking stupid thing” he flicked off the station, yanked the Ipod out, and examined the screen that had illuminated back to life. It wasn’t even in a playlist. It was at the screen with all the applications.

How had the music began to play if you couldn’t get into a playlist?  
Roxas sighed in frustration and touched into the settings, let’s see if it would work if he had a password lock on it.

As he typed in numbers he would remember, he felt a hot breath down his neck and he let out a loud yelp of surprise dropping the Ipod onto the wooden floor. Spinning around wildly Roxas, jumped away scrabbling his shirt and feeling utterly horrified.  
From the floor, his Ipod illuminated again.

The opening song was called Alice Underground. It was a song Roxas had gotten off the net, he froze ant the eerie start of the song. It matched his situation perfectly, he heard the lyrics coming out from the small speaker of his Ipod and he refrained from yelling out in terror. 

He scrambled to his feet and he raced to the door. He yanked it open and ran out into the hallway.  
Careening down the stairs Roxas nearly fell into a tangled heap at the bottom of the stairs. As he stood up he raked his fingers through his golden snarls and looked around the lounge room worriedly and then walking to the lounge he flopped down on it. 

**“What did you do?”**  
 **“Why would it concern you?”**  
 **“Can I meet him yet?”**  
 **“No.”**

Roxas watched the TV but didn’t absorb it.  
His mind was somewhere else, off in space.  
If he wanted answers, he would have to get them himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music that inspired this Chapter- In Order:
> 
> New Divide- Linkin Park
> 
> Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day
> 
> Alice Underground- Avril Lavigne


	4. Minutes to Midnight

Sora stumbled into the front door leaning on his given crutches for support. The doctors had wrapped his feet until they were white balls. He couldn’t walk properly which made Aerith furious and demanding he have some walking aids.  
Sora winced as he gingerly placed weight on his foot and he saw his brother and father at the dinner table eating. 

Aerith clicked her tongue and Cloud looked to the oven, Roxas stood at the mouth of the stairs and pointed to the kitchen. “I left it warming for you. I haven’t had any yet.”  
He gave his brother with a flat glance that made Sora cringe. He hobbled forward and mumbled, “Mum, I’m not hungry, I want to go to bed.”

Aerith looked terribly concerned and she said, “Sora, maybe you should eat something honey.”  
Sora grimaced and shook his head, “Mum, I can’t, I’m not hungry, really.”  
He nearly begged her and Aerith sighed and said in a soft voice, “Okay Sweetheart, if you need me just call out alright?”

Sora nodded briefly and walked to the stairs, he could still feel his brother’s scrutiny burning at the back of his head and he hobbled up the stairs trying not to put more pressure on his feet.

He swore that the doctors had done more damage to his feet.  
As he reached his room, Sora felt a brisk chill race up his spine and he flopped down onto the bed checking out every little detail on his bandaged feet.

The doctors had put this stinging clear liquid that hurt like all hell, poked, and prodded his feet exclaiming that they were 2nd degree burns.  
Sora had not been amused and his pain made Aerith upset and angry.

So as he sat down he saw his breath misting from his mouth and he grumbled angrily. He saw his blue pyjama pants on the bed and made the decision to change into them. He opted for a large bed shirt and pulled that on.

He lied down snuggling underneath his covers, he felt terribly uncomfortable. It was like wearing shoes to bed.  
He glanced up at the alarm clock glowing on his entertainment unit.

8:00  
He felt horribly tired but he couldn’t force himself to go to sleep, he watched his black bathroom for a while thinking of many things.  
His family.  
Roxas.  
The House.  
Fuck even the girl at the café yesterday.

He sighed and turned over in the dimness and got comfortable again. He closed his eyes and lie there for a moment. It was dead silent before he heard the faint sound of music. Sora lifted his head instantly.  
He definitely heard music.

It was faint; Roxas’ Ipod could play music without earphones. It had a small speaker, which played. It was probably that, but Roxas wasn’t one to carelessly toss his most precious object and waste the batteries.

Grudgingly Sora groped for his new crutches, hauled himself to his battered and stinging feet, and hobbled towards the door.

_“Where the hell is he going?”_   
_“Oh he better be going down those stairs.”_

Sora shivered with the iciness of his room, crossed the hallway, and pushed open Roxas’ door.

_“Oh Gods, Riku stop him, he is going on their side.”_   
_“I can’t, I will be ripped beyond shreds.”_

Sora glanced into his brother’s room, it was dark. Then he saw a small light on the floor beside the TV. It was his Ipod on the ground; it was playing a song that Sora couldn’t recognise. He noticed it was on the application screen; didn’t it have to be on the music screen to play music?

Frowning Sora was just befuddled on why Roxas’ treasured Ipod was on the floor.  
He stumbled in towards the Ipod and leant against the entertainment unit to reach down and scoop the Ipod up.

It was very warm in his palms and he felt a gush of warm air surround him. He looked around; Roxas didn’t have a heater in his room. He had occupied the empty side of the house.

The warm air got hotter and he felt his skin start to sting slightly. He gasped pocketing the Ipod in his pocket and scrambled up straight with his crutches. Then there was a blow to his stomach that completely winded him. Sora gasped in shock and nearly toppled head over heels. 

He heard a hiss reverberate around the room and a jolt of fear raced right up his spine. Adrenaline began to pump and through the darkness, Sora saw a large shadow loom above him with glowing white pupils.

Sora squeaked and forgetting his crutches he actually ran back to his room, sore feet or not he had to get the fuck out of this room.

**“Axel what did you do?”**   
**“I done nothing, he invaded the room; he took the device that makes the sound.”**   
**“It’s called an Ipod Axel.”**   
**“He took it, but at least I managed to scare him off.”**   
**“And he left his sticks behind!”**   
**“Real smart Dem.”**

_“Oh my god, he was attacked again. I can’t handle this anymore. This kid will be the end of me.”_   
_“Hold out Kairi, I think he will be wising up.”_   
_“Meet him tonight Riku, it’s our only chance of saving the whole family.”_   
_“But-”_   
_“No! If you don’t do it, I will!”_

Sora took in deep shuddering breaths as he tried to settle down. He dove under the quilts and wrapped himself up. It was the best he could do, if he went running down those stairs like a maniac, his family would call him a complete and utter moron, especially Roxas.

He didn’t know how long he lied there under the covers trying to calm himself down. But amidst all the calamity, Sora fell asleep under the covers.  
He had completely crashed.

_“Don’t forget to breathe through the silence.”_

Sora woke up abruptly and blinked his sticky eyes trying to adjust to the complete darkness. He recognised where he was and glanced wearily over to the alarm clock.  
11:59 PM

What the fuck?  
Sora grumbled angrily into his pillow, what had made him wake up? He had not the slightest clue. 

He fixed himself under the warmth of the blankets and watched the clock’s illumination.  
The moment the numbers changed to 12:00. There was a clatter of footsteps over the tiles in Sora’s bathroom.

Instantly freezing Sora lifted his blankets up ready to hide his face. Though it was completely childish, but hell, somebody was in here.  
He nearly yelled out when there was another clatter of footsteps, this time over the carpet tiles.   
Then the temperature in the room dropped dramatically, Sora could see the windows fogging up and small cracks began to appear on the corners of the old glass.

Clutching the blankets to his chin Sora nearly cried out for help.   
This was scary, fucking scary beyond reason.   
He quickly glanced to the bedroom door, it was shut but not tightly and he debated whether he could run to his parent’s room. He stiffened painfully when he saw the mist coming in through the bottom of the door and he unintentionally whimpered and hid his face. 

The room cold colder and he could feel the Goosebumps rise on his arms as it froze. Squinting his eyes shut until he saw colours, Sora looked over the quilt just the tiniest bit and saw a misty shape manifesting on the end of his bed.

He stared, unable to help himself.  
As the shape defined, Sora was able to feel his mattress sink under the weight. He kept on looking until he saw an incredibly sad and very ghostly boy staring at him.  
He had large sad, aqua eyes with jet-black bags under his eyes. He stared back at Sora, who noticed that his hair was swaying. 

Then the boy spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.  
“You’re in danger.”  
“What the fuck” Sora’s voice trembled “Y-You’re a ghost, there’s a ghost in my room.”   
The ghost was expressionless, “Yes I am a ghost. Do you have a problem with that?” Sora looked at him incredulously “You’re a ghost! They aren’t supposed to exist!”  
“I am here am I not?”

Sora frowned and lowered the quilt slightly before saying in a muffled voice, “Excuse Me”?  
The boy sighed and shook his head running his incredibly white fingers through metallic silver hair.   
“You’re in danger!”

“Wai-what?”  
Sora shuffled his feet, pulling them away from the boy then asked, voice still muffled. “I’m in danger?”  
The boy nodded.

Lowering the blanket Sora watched the shape of the boy carefully then asked, “Then how am I in danger?”

The boy looked right at him and said, still in his flat voice. “It’s not only you; it is your brother and your parents as well.”  
That was where Sora lost his fear momentarily and narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “How? What the hell is going on here?”

The boy sighed and pointed to the bump under the quilt where Sora’s feet were, “That was no accident there.”  
Sora sat up bunching the quilt around him and asked abruptly, “So what are you doing haunting my house and hurting me and my family?”  
The boy eyes went darker, “That was no fault of mine!” He looked towards the door and then back to Sora.  
“That was the making of ‘them’!”  
Sora frowned slightly and asked, “Who are or what are ‘them’?”  
“Silhouettes.”

The name was dark and struck a slight fear in Sora’s chest before he stammered “S-Silhouettes?”

The boy nodded, “I am Riku, I have been living in this house for a hundred and one years, I was murdered here.”  
The sudden abruptness of Riku’s words hit home on Sora who felt the guilt rise and he simply muttered an ‘oh.’

Riku narrowed his eyes, “This house used to be a hospital for people that are not like you, they had incidents that happened within the head.”  
His interpretation sounded…off and Sora snorted, “You meant the mentally retarded?”

He received a scowl in response and shut his mouth, cheeks burning slightly. “Look” he said “I know that this place was a Mental Asylum, what I said was true. There no need to scowl at me.”  
Riku’s voice got some emotion in it then. He spoke harshly and coldly.  
“You are not alone, even in this room Sora. I am among eight others just like me.”  
Sora gulped, “Eight?”

Riku nodded.  
“Yes, here I will introduce them.” He simply waved his hand and almost immediately, another two figures solidified into view. About three seconds later, two girls, they looked remarkably similar.   
One had bright red hair and the other with fair blonde hair. Both had striking blue eyes, and both had the large black bags, hollowing out their eyes. They too, looked incredibly sad. 

Riku gestured to them, this is Kairi and Naminé, Kairi joined me about five years after I went. Namine was one of the last to die, before the hospital shut down.”  
He looked to the door and sighed, “The others haven’t come, but there are others, there’s Tidus, Yuna, Zack, Yuffie and Leon, we were all tortured one way or another.”

His face grew even sadder and Sora whispered, “What the hell happened?”  
Riku glanced to the girls and Namine; the blonde walked over to the bed and sat down beside Riku. Kairi stood at the side and watched. 

Riku sighed, “I told you before that we aren’t alone, I mentioned the ‘Silhouettes.’ Sora nodded and Riku leant forward, “They are the dark side, evil, pure evil.”  
Namine nodded and whispered for the first time “They were patients like us back in the days of the Hospital.”

Her eyes were wide and glassy, “I died a hundred years ago, I was never given the chance to move on, my sister and I.”  
Riku nodded, “Our house is split right down the middle.”  
Sora guessed right away.

“Roxas is on their side?”  
Riku nodded, “We can protect you if you are on this side, but one of the crafty bastard can control heat, so it’s better on ‘their’ side, because we make everything so cold.”  
Sora nodded, “Tell me about the Silhouettes?”  
Riku’s face went dark.

“There are 12 Silhouettes in total, then there is the Original Silhouette, he resides and bides his time up in the attic waiting for his next victim.”  
Sora shivered without realising it and then whispered, “What does he want?”

Riku’s face scrunched, he was an olden day ghost, that had been alone, he didn’t know of the new world that had sprung up around him.  
“I do not know if there is a name for having issues in the head, where you see things that are not real.”

Sora answered immediately, “They call is schizophrenia, it can be treated with medication.”  
Riku frowned, “Well, we suffered terribly, this-this schizophrenia, a lot of patients suffered from it, and that’s what ‘he’ wanted, when you become a Silhouette you have greater powers, each Silhouette has an individual power on what they saw most in their moments of pain.”

Sora nodded feeling the warmth out of his feet dissipate, he shivered.  
Then Naminé spoke up, “The Original wanted a certain person that could travel to a place called the ‘In Between,’ a place between death and the living. You can do so much in there and affect the living way, or even bring people back from the dead.”

She faltered and Kairi added, “He found this particular person, but even as a Silhouette he defied the Original and suffered terrible consequences.”  
Naminé nodded, “He fought the Original to save me and my sister, as a result had his heart cut out. He lives in a lot of pain every day; he can’t feel anything, no emotions. Though he is a Silhouette, I feel sorry for him. He failed the Original, so now he is waiting for the next victim who can travel to the ‘In Between.’ We have all been alone for an incredibly long time.”

Riku nodded, “She’s right, this particular Silhouette is taking a shine to Roxas, I don’t know if he knows that maybe Roxas can travel. But if he was acting normally, Roxas would have been slaughtered by now.”

Sora gasped and Riku nodded, “We can’t leave this house, because The Original took our souls, we are failed experiments, and that Silhouette as well.”  
Riku leant forward, his hand disappeared under the blanket, and Sora felt a ghostly touch on his feet.   
“What are you doing”? He whispered alarmed.  
Riku looked up, “We can fix your feet, unless you want to live in pain!”

Sora was hesitant but nodded. Riku grabbed his feet and he was consumed by iciness. Then he asked in a grim voice, “What do we do, to help Roxas?” He looked to the three ghosts, “What is a Silhouette, can they get us?”

Riku shook his head, pulled the covers back, and quickly unwound the bandages. Sora was shocked when his feet where perfectly fine. They were healed, except welts that would have scarred were vivid blue. 

Riku answered his question, “Its shows you have been marked by the Spirits.”  
He nodded to Kairi who nodded and walked to the door and opened it.  
Riku pulled Sora up, his hand went through his, but he was able to feel the grip on his wrist. 

They walked to the door and Kairi whispered in a small voice, “Just our luck, here comes one now.”  
Sora looked out the darkened hall and saw shadows flickering and twisting away. A long black figure appeared to be walking on black mist; it walked with its head down and was shrouded in a black cloak. 

It looked like a Grim Reaper.  
Silhouette

Naminé whimpered from behind them and whispered, “Who do you think it is?”  
Riku shook his head, “It has the hood up, I can’t tell who-”  
Before he could finish, Sora jumped back refraining to yell.

The hooded figure jerked its head up and stopped walking, Sora saw bright yellow eyes. The hood flew back revealing incredible blue hair and the pale face marked with a brutal X. 

There was a menacing hiss that froze Sora’s bones and the Blue Silhouette hissed again revealing a mouth full of lengthened razor sharp fangs. It rushed forward towards Sora who fell back. 

The Silhouette hit an invisible barrier, it glowed white before going invisible after he stood back and growled again in an animalistic way.   
Sora felt his heart clench and Riku whispered, “That’s Saix, he is the only half successful Silhouette of the Original.”

He pushed Sora behind him and stood straight and the Silhouette whispered menacingly, “You can’t protect him always, I will kill him.”  
The darkness whipped around, the black mist swirled around, and the Silhouette vanished.

Sora looked desperately to the Spirits, “Are they all like that?”  
Riku nodded, “and they are all incredibly dangerous.”

Sora stood there dumbfounded as Kairi shut the door, her eyes wide and frightened. Sora frowned then asked in an angry voice, “How the fuck do we kill them?” Riku nodded and the four went back to the bed and sat down.

“I have been observing them for some time and I must inform you this, Silhouettes are Dark Immortals. You can’t kill them any normal ways."  
Sora’s face fell but Riku held up a finger to silence the words that were going to come out of Sora’s mouth. “But, I heard two particular Silhouettes talking about it fifty years back, I now know that Silhouettes ‘bond’ to different things, it could be another Silhouette or a human, anything really, destroy that and they will die.”

Sora bit his lip and again Riku answered his unasked question. “We do not know what the Original has bonded to, I’m sorry.”  
Sora let out his breath and looked around the room at the ghosts sitting beside him. Was this real?   
Or was it just a dream?

He shook his brown spikes and wiggled his now blue-scarred feet. He would have to hide them from now on in.   
He saw the ghosts staring at him and he said in a wobbly voice, “I-I don’t believe this, this isn’t supposed to be fucking real. How-Why did this happen to us?”  
He looked around the room again, saw the older pieces of furniture, and said in a soft voice, “Did the other resident only live on this side of the house?”  
Riku nodded, “The Silhouettes got hold of her husband about thirty years back, they totally devoured him right in front of her.”

 

He shook his head, “We have been living in fear well over a century, the Silhouettes aren’t like us at all.”  
Sora was afraid, unsure and weary.

This wasn’t simply real, but he was concerned for the safety for his family. Though Roxas pissed him off, he was his baby brother, if he was a target, there would be absolute hell to pay.

Sora looked to all the incredibly sad faces and realised that Naminé had said she had a sister. He opened his mouth and asked the blonde girl, “Didn’t you say you had a sister? Where is she?”

All three of the Spirits cringed and Naminé whispered, “She isn’t like me, she is on ‘their’ side.” She jerked her head towards the door, folded her arms across her chest, and looked down. 

Sora looked through the misty figures and saw the lights of his alarm clock illuminating his room. It was 12:24.  
Riku watched him then said in a soft voice, “We shall leave now Sora, but if you want to help your family, you have to help us. Warn your brother of ‘them’ and move him away from that side of the house, he will be safe here on this side.”

Sora jerked back to look at Riku, more questions on the tip of his tongue, but Riku shook his head of silver hair and disappeared in white smoke along with Kairi and Naminé. The temperature rose again, though it was still cold.

Sora shivered and threw his blanket around himself not quite believing what had happened. He threw himself back on the pillow and stared at the dark bathroom. It was silent; Sora strained his ears to hear out for any noise in his bedroom.  
He felt fear spear bolt through him when he heard a long howl from outside the house. It sounded like a human.

There were yowls and hisses down the hall, then growls right outside Sora’s door. Throwing the blankets over himself Sora knew that those were the Silhouettes, they were scaring him alright.  
There was a scratching sound at a door down the hall and then the creak as a door opened and shut.   
Roxas’ room.

Sora was scared for his brother. How he could sleep through that he didn’t know.   
And that shadow in his room, was that a Silhouette living in there?  
He didn’t know if it was the Silhouette that had his heart cut out; the eyes were black and white. The one he had seen earlier had bright yellow eyes.

It pierced his memory and he cringed at the vividness. The Spirits were seemingly unafraid, and Sora was absolutely terrified.  
He never, ever wanted to meet a Silhouette face to face.


	5. Run In

Roxas scowled as he got up the next morning. He flung his feet of the bed and stomped across the hall holding Sora’s crutches.  
He slammed open the door to see his older brother asleep under the covers. It was incredibly cold in his room.   
This made Roxas glad that he had the heated room. He threw the crutches down onto the floor and shouted angrily.  
“Sora, you dick, you stole my Ipod!”

Sora startled awake glancing at his brother with bleary eyes, “Wha- Oh Roxas piss off you-…”  
Roxas scowled again, stomped to Sora’s bedside table, snatched the Ipod off it, and sneered, “If you ever come into my room again, I will fuck kill you.”

He left the room and Sora mumbled into the blankets, pleasuring in the warmth and comfort of his bed. Then the memories of the night before hit him in a rush and he bolted up. 

He swayed slightly fighting the vertigo and all the voices and the deep fear resided back in him flared up again.

Silhouettes  
Danger  
Murder

He threw the covers off when he heard Roxas slam his door shut and saw his feet.  
They were still blue; the scarred welts were a vivid electric blue.  
He wiggled his toes and jumped off the bed to run to the box in the corner and pull out a pair of socks.  
As he, spun back around he saw the bandages on the floor and cursed.   
Fuck, what was he going to do?

Roxas swore to himself as he sat his Ipod back on the docking station. The screen blared to life and he looked back to the door when he heard a thump from his brother’s room.

That dick, Roxas hated his brother so much.   
Sometimes he would wish he would die.

Roxas felt a hot breath down his neck again and stood straight counting to ten. He had enough of this freaky shit. He closed his eyes, slowly counted then turned around opening his eyes and he walked to the door and pulled it back open. Sora was there leaning on a crutch.

He looked worried and he held out his hand, “Roxas, can you talk to me a minute, I really need to tell you something.” Roxas pulled his hand away, “I don’t want to talk to you, you thieving bastard.”

He sidestepped Sora who huffed out in impatience.  
Sora tried to grab his brother but as he sidestepped him, Sora caught sight of inside of Roxas’ room. The blinds were open and the light streamed in. He gasped out in fright when he suddenly saw a man standing in there.

Like the one last night, the Silhouette was clad in a long black cloak and had the dark mist hanging around him.   
His hair was a bright vivid red that spiked out in all directions, giving him a menacing look. His eyes were black holes, empty. His mouth was turned up in a snarl with fangs to boot.

Sora fell backwards with a yelp, he fell back so fast the he let go of his crutch prop and he fell heavily onto his back scrambling up trying to regain the wind that was knocked out of him.

Roxas’ eyes popped wide with surprise then spat, “What the hell is the matter with you, you freak?”  
The blonde eyes him off wearily then stepped over to help him up Sora saw right away that Roxas crossed over the boundary and the Silhouette snarled in response. His black holes widened and his red hair bristled dangerously.

Roxas was totally unaware of the scene behind him, but Sora saw everything. He allowed himself to be lifted up by his brother. As Roxas crossed the invisible barrier, the Silhouette snarled savagely and lunged forward.

Sora yelped out in fear as the Silhouette smashed against the barrier, black veins snaked up his cheeks. Like liquid ink running down his face. Through the holes white pupils glowed dangerously and Roxas exclaimed in shock.

“Sora, what the hell is the matter with you? Are you alright?” Roxas eyed Sora with a weird glint in his eye as Sora stumbled up chalky faced.   
The Silhouette breathed heavily, his eyeholes expressionless. He hissed again, teeth shining white and he paced along the barrier.

Fire licked the way up his arms as he walked back and forth watching Sora intently. He saw another two black clad Silhouettes run towards him. One a young boy with a dramatic hairstyle and another with long dark violet hair that had been let to grow out.

They surrounded the red Silhouette who growled again and went incredibly misty.  
Sora drew his attention away and into the concerned eyes of his brother.  
Roxas looked down at the bandages that were falling off Sora’s feet and frowned.

“Sora, why are your feet blue?”   
Sora froze and looked to his feet; the bandages had precariously slipped and revealed a partial electric blue scar. He found a quick, but lame excuse. “It’s the shit the doctors put on my feet last night.”

Roxas frowned at the absurdity of his brother and turned back into his room, “I think you hit your head falling out of bed Sora, its ten past nine and you’re still acting funny.” He slowly backed towards the barrier.

“Please heed me out” Sora begged and Roxas frowned, “No Sora, you’re acting like a complete tart, I will go get Mum and you can explain to her about your little predicament.”  
Sora grabbed Roxas’ hand eliciting another savage snarl from the red head Silhouette and Roxas sighed.  
“Sora, don’t, I have stuff I want to do. I don’t want to waste time when you are acting like an idiot.”

**“Axel, Axel, what’s the matter with you?”**   
**“He took him away, he sees us, he took him away from me!”**   
**“Axel, don’t worry, don’t get yourself worked up in a frenzy, you will hurt yourself again.”**   
**“I never knew you had staked a claim Axel, is that why you didn’t kill him?”**   
**“I will kill him; he won’t steal Roxas from me.”**

Sora pulled on Roxas’ hand and the younger blonde sighed again, a little hint of annoyance tinting his tone.  
“You’re pissing me off Sora, can’t we talk later”? He went to snap further until the brothers heard their father’s voice shouting from down the stairs,   
“Sora! Roxas! Get your little asses down here.”

Roxas snorted towards the stairs and then leant over before hissing into Sora’s ear “You better hide your feet, Mum will freak if she sees the bandages already off.”  
Roxas walked down the stairs, he didn’t cross over into the Silhouette territory and Sora saw the red head growl and spin around hitting the doorframe with his fists before vanishing in black mist.

The other two Silhouettes cast a gaze to Sora, in disdain. They had eyes but they were had black irises and they stared at him before the younger one turned into Roxas’ room. The violet haired Silhouette put his fingers on his chin before he followed suit and Sora picked up his crutch and walked to the stairs.

*****

Cloud opened the front door of the house, revealing the large drive entrance. The driveway led down the hill and Roxas cast his gaze over the fountain that was running again. As he walked out, he saw his mother pulling out old forgotten plants and dusting the dirt off the path.

She wore a large sunhat and she glanced up as her son’s trudged out onto the front porch. She waved and said in a delighted voice, “I’m finally going to start a real garden boys, I am going to grow roses, daffodils, tiger lilies.”  
Besides fussing over her family, the one thing Aerith loved almost more than her own son’s was gardening.

Her flowers became her newborn babies and she will spend any waking hour tending to the little miracles she called them.  
Cloud rolled his eyes and stepped down the front porch, just as Sora came out of the door. Both brothers stared out at the raked out part of the lawn where their Mother was going to start her garden and Sora groaned to his brother.

“I don’t know why we have to help out with the lawn work!”  
Roxas nodded, he didn’t say anything.  
He jumped down from the porch and kissed his mother before walking over to the fountain and glancing in to the now rushing water. Lily pads had long lived in the water and had died.

So Roxas pulled them out and was astounded to see the water underneath was crystal clear. He was able to see the different tiles decorating the bottom of the fountain. He looked over further and looked up to see the top ornament of the fountain was an angel with its arms outstretched welcoming a bird.   
Cloud came over with the large secateurs and said in gruff voice, “Move it boy, I have work to do.”

Roxas scrambled away and Aerith lifted her head, her eyes shrouded by dappled sunlight coming in through the sun hat and called waving her arm.  
“Roxas, sweetheart, I have had an idea.”  
Roxas glanced over to her and she pointed her arm to the trees where an outline of a gazebo was positioned.

“Clean that out sweetheart, we can have lunch on it, would that be absolutely darling”  
Roxas scoffed “Its half collapsed in Mum? You want me to clean that out?” Aerith nodded and Sora called out irritably from the porch.  
“Muummmm, what can I do?”

Aerith looked up again and demanded, “what are you doing out here, you should be in bed resting your feet.”  
She glared down at him and Sora pouted, “I want to sit out in the sun, I don’t want to be cooped up in the house all day.”  
As he complained, Sora saw black mist envelop his mother and he froze, eyes widening in shock. Aerith sat on the path befuddled at the sudden gaze Sora gave her.

Behind his Mother, another Silhouette stood behind her and gazed down to her work starting the garden.   
The Silhouette had bright, vivid pink hair and his eyes glinted as Aerith looked down at the garden.

The Silhouette pulled out a rose from the sleeve of his cloak and bent his head down to smell the lovely scent, just as the same time Aerith clapped her hands together and smelt the air. “Oh I am so excited; I can smell the roses already.”

Sora shook his head and sat down on the steps, he gazed over the lawn, watching for his brother all the while keeping an eye on the pink haired Silhouette. He had sat down right next to his mother and seemed to be actually helping with the garden, a smile evident on the flawless white skin.

As Cloud hacked away the bushes and shrubs, Roxas cleaned the gazebo until he got a bored look on his face and stood straight.  
He walked back to the porch where Sora looked up to his Brother and asked where he was going. Roxas rolled his eyes and exclaimed that he was going to go get his Ipod.   
He stomped up the stairs and into the dimness of the house before Sora could get to his feet.

Roxas walked up the stairs, the air felt tight around him. He trudged up the stairs to his bedroom, before walking into the room. It didn’t stop Roxas looking to the trapdoor leading to the attic.

**“What is he doing?”**

**“Axel, we have a problem, Roxas is-”**

Roxas nodded to himself, walked to the end of the hall right in front of his parent’s room, and pulled on the cable hanging from the roof. The trapdoor fell to the floor with an audible thud shaking the house around him. 

Roxas cringed slightly at the noise and looked up into the gaping hole of the roof. It was absolutely pitch black. Frowning slightly Roxas walked back down the stairs to retrieve a large Mag Torch that his father had left on the foot of the stairs. Walking back up, Roxas flicked back on the torch, a bright white light erupted out.

Shining the light into the whole Roxas saw the wood of the roof beams.  
He took a step onto the first wooden step, he wasn’t aware of the commotion that had erupted out behind him.

_“Stop him, oh gods stop him!”_   
_“Tell them that, keep your boy on a leash if he belongs to you.”_

**“Don’t talk to me like that Spirit, if you are aware, that attic door is right on the clash of the boundaries, none of us can get up there.”**   
**“Axel, he will be killed; Xemnas will hurt us for letting the family stay, especially Roxas on our side.”**

 

Roxas felt a warm breeze rush up his leg as he reached the last ladder rung and he crawled up into the musky, damp smelling attic.  
Sweeping the light around the dark attic, Roxas saw old furniture littered all over the place. Half it seemed like a forgotten office. He frowned when he saw a dusty old hospital bed in the corner. 

The light flickered slightly and Roxas saw a display cabinet on the other side of the attic. A cupboard door was left hanging open, only Gods knew how long it had been left like that. 

Fright and curiosity made Roxas walk over slowly. He placed the torch on the cabinet, so the light shined on the drawers he was about to pull open.  
The light didn’t show a pair of bright red eyes open.

The first drawer was stuck fast and the wooden handles rotted away in Roxas’ hands. He flicked his hand scoffing in disgust, then braved up to pull the second one. It came away easily and a folder full of delicate, yellowed paper was bunched in between the drawer.  
Roxas grabbed it and placed it in the light coat he was wearing and pulled the zipper up. Just as he did that.

The torch flickered off.  
Roxas jumped around in fear and saw the torch rolling off the cabinet. Blessed with good reflexes he jerked out his arm and caught it with his hand. He flicked the light back on, he looked to where the hospital bed was and he gagged as the light revealed what he had not seen before. 

The wall and the hospital bed was spattered in dry blood. It was so old that it almost took on a black tinge. Bloody handprints decorated the wall and blood pools were at the bed and run down the floorboards.

It was totally sabotage, shocking. Roxas coughed in the dust rising up and the torch turned off again. The attic was plunged into complete darkness again and Roxas felt another presence loom beside him.

He spun around and saw blood red eyes staring back at him and shining white teeth. There was a snarl and letting out a cry of terror Roxas flung the heavy black torch dropping the torch as he hit something solid beside him. 

He screamed loudly as the attic trapdoor lifted up and slammed shut, it was so dark and Roxas threw himself over the floorboards and crashed against something solid.  
By the feel of it as he rolled over it, it had been a table or desk and Roxas cracked his back painfully as he landed on the floor and scrambled to his feet. 

There was a double growl and through the darkness, Roxas felt wind whip across his face and a breath incredibly close to his neck.  
Suddenly the trapdoor fell down again, crashing against the floor. With the light flooding the attic, Roxas took the opportunity and raced to the door.   
Forgetting the ladder, he threw himself out and landed on the floor painfully crying out in agony. The door slammed shut, and a warm air of comfort surrounded Roxas who clutched at himself in pain. 

He didn’t know how he got up and made it into his room under so much excruciating pain. He broke something, he knew it. It was fucking painful.  
He collapsed on his bed groaning and fighting back his tears.

Heat surrounded him again and through the pain that glazed his eyes Roxas saw black mist coming around him and the anxious green eyes that stared back at him.

*****

Sora raced up the stairs calling desperately for his brother. He had heard the noise from the door. Excusing himself from his parents Sora went to go see if everything was alright. Sora was utterly shocked, all through the right hand of the house he saw multiple Silhouettes looking frightened, angry and worried.

Some were big, some were small, he saw a female in there and they all sported vivid coloured hairstyles.  
They were all still mist and clad in black.

Sora barricaded to Roxas’ door only to see Roxas lying limply on the bed out cold. This made Sora panic and he cried out desperately, “Roxas!”  
As he let, the words slip his mouth there was a hiss and the red headed Silhouette rushed to the door and slammed it shut on Sora’s face. 

Falling backwards Sora stumbled across the hall and decided to go into his room to get the help he wanted.  
He burst into his room, “Riku” he called desperately  
“Naminé, Kairi?”

Riku was the first to appear, he seemed more see through when he was in the sunlight but he was still there and his face was solemn and grim.  
Sora paced the room, “What the hell happened? Did they attack him?” He grew incredibly angry, “I will burn down this entire house to make sure they all suffer one way or another.”

His fists shook with fury and Riku hushed him, white mist curling around Sora. For once, the cold didn’t concern him and he looked into the face of the ghost boy. Riku looked directly at him and said.

“Roxas ventured up into the attic, the Original attacked him. A Silhouette defied the barrier and managed to pull down the attic trapdoor, Roxas fell out. He was seriously hurt after that the Silhouettes took him into his room and I haven’t seen anything since.”  
Sora bit his lip trying to bite down his rage and looked out to his open door to see Roxas’ still shut.

What were the bastards going to do with his brother? Especially when Roxas was hurt? He was worried and he whispered, “What are we going to do about Mum and Dad? They will come up here and seek him out for not helping.”

Riku nodded, “We will preoccupy them, make them not think about Roxas or yourself”. Riku glanced out the door as well when he saw another Silhouette race down the hall surrounded by the black mist. 

Sora felt more fear rise up inside him, “Can-can they turn him into a-one of them?” Riku shrugged, “I’m terribly sorry, I don’t know. The Original was the one to turn us all into Silhouettes or Spirits in the first place.”  
He gazed directly at Sora.  
“Just as long nobody gets the idea to bite him, otherwise Roxas is as good as dead.”


	6. Twilight Hill 1910

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Chapter that has gone into the Past. So do not be confused.
> 
> I still do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. They belong to Square Enix. 
> 
> I know I have forgotten this, but... Mind the language :)

_Twilight Hill Psychiatric Hospital_

_February 1910_

Naminé tiptoed down the dark hallway; the hospital was silent for the moment. All the bedroom doors were shut for the night and the night nurses were down in the lunchroom having something to eat.

Naminé looked around the corners cautiously then darted over the hallway pushing open a door with the nameplate Larxene.  
She peeked into the dimly lit room and slid in whispering, “Larxene, it’s me”  
There was a soft groan in response and from the bed; an older blonde lifted her head, her green eyes dull and lifeless.

“Nami, what are you doing? You will get into trouble again!” 

The younger sister shut the door tightly and jumped over to her sister’s bed hugging her tightly. 

“This is scaring me now Larxene, have you not noticed the scary looks that doctor is giving us?” 

Larxene snorted softly hugging her little sister back, “This entire place is scary Nami, how many people have died here already?” The two sisters were silent for a moment before Naminé felt her sister convulse and her body trembled.   
Her grip around her weakened and Naminé looked up sympathetically and whispered, “They are making you sick again aren’t they?”

Larxene had been getting sicker over the past weeks, her visions becoming more and more violent. It got worse when thunderstorms rolled into the valley.   
During the thunder and the lightning, that’s where she snapped it.

Sitting there for a quiet moment Naminé wished everything wasn’t so difficult, why she and her sister had to be sent away from their home and had to live here.  
The nurses were uncaring, the doctors were harsh and the lead Doctor, Somebody named Xemnas; he was the scariest one of all.   
People went into his office and never came back out.

A gust of wind buffeted the hospital walls and as a window shutter slammed close, there was an explosive yell of pain. The cry echoed down the hallway and made Naminé jump a foot in the air. Larxene clutched her tightly again as the cries and the shouts of agony continued to ring out.

There were no footsteps of running nurses or doctors. The whole top floor was deserted, and now from the screaming, nearly everybody in their rooms would be cringing and trying to hide away.

Naminé loosened herself from her sister and got up off the bed.  
Larxene looked up and hissed her eyes going wide and frightened. “Nami, what are you doing, you will get into trouble.”

When she was ignored, her voice became harsher and more venom filled, “Naminé! You will stay here until it is ok to leave!”  
Naminé ignored her sister and opened the door lightly to sneak back out into the hallway, which was now filled with a light that was coming from underneath the door in Xemnas’ office.

Jumping across the hallway Naminé flattened herself against the wall and sucked in her breath. Creeping along her tiptoes, she slid across the white walls and crept quietly to the door that had slightly been left ajar.  
The light filtered through and with the narrow beam of light hitting her face,  
Naminé peeked in.

She saw a white hospital bed with somebody upon it. She strained her eyes to peek in and she recognised the latest victim to fall to the horror doctor.  
A boy she vaguely knew as Demyx.

The boy writhed and shouted in pain, his face going a shade of black and blue.   
Naminé ducked back gasping as she saw the large white figure of Xemnas walked past. He wore a long white doctor’s coat and his long silver hair hung down in waves as he spun around to reveal a long white needle.

Naminé internally shivered and wrapped her arms around her, her stomach clenched painfully as Xemnas inserted the incredibly long needle into the chest cavity. It kept going, and going.  
Demyx let out another howl of pain and Naminé could swear she was seeing black lines snaking up his face.

His skin was going paler and she heard Xemnas mumble something incoherently and pull out the needle that was now stained. The long silver point was stained in black liquid; he turned back to his desk and said to himself

“Time of Death, 12:27 A.M”

Naminé bit her lip, trying not to make a sound.  
Demyx wasn’t dead though! What the hell was the wrong with this doctor?  
Demyx let loose another scream, writhing and twisting his body in unnatural angles. His hand banged against the white wall and Naminé almost gasped when she saw a bloody handprint left behind on the white paint.

The blood was black, with the slight tinge of red to it. From the handprint, trails dribbled down to the floor.  
Convulsing and threatening to let loose her dinner, Naminé covered her mouth and felt her head going light.  
She stumbled against the wall, her legs letting her down. Her head almost went white and a bright light penetrated her eyesight.

She was overwhelmed with the urge to scream and she knew right away that her illness was going to give her snooping away.

As Naminé cleared her vision and was prepared to run back to her bedroom she stopped biting her lip fighting her silent battle.

A long black figure strode past her going down the eastern hallway, black mist filled the hall and Naminé saw a bundle of vivid red spikes. It so much as acknowledged her as it continued to walk.

Blinking twice and fighting down her incoming wash of anxiety over her, Naminé stumbled from the wall and ran. Being barefoot gave her advantage of being entirely silent.

Barricading into her room, Naminé fell onto her bed and smothered her face as a scream ripped apart her lungs. Her demons engulfed her and she was thrown into the world of darkness and pain she hated so much.

Down the end of the hall, Xemnas watched the door. He knew the young blonde had watched him. He wasn’t a normal human. He snarled in his throat, turned back to the now still, pale form of Demyx on the bed, and hunkered down hissing. “You can watch as well, when I destroy those blonde girls, especially the younger one”.  
The body of Demyx convulsed and his head fell to the side, a black, tar like liquid flowing from his mouth and pooling on the floor.

Xemnas chuckled and turned back to the door.

Through the crack, he saw the incredibly difficult Silhouette he knew as Axel. The red head stood there with a hate-filled look as he stared at the body of Demyx. He shook his head and snarled, “You’re a monster, now you want to kill the girls?”  
Xemnas chuckled, “Oh they won’t be like the other failed ones” he waved his hand over the Demyx corpse, “This was a success-!” he paused then added a bit more harshly, “Hardly!”

His grin turned malicious as he turned back to Axel, “How much do I need to kill and turn before you give me what I want Axel?”  
The red head grimaced, his bright purple tattoos glowing before his eyes flashed once. Axel spun around and disappeared into a fine mist of black and gold and Xemnas let a bone rattling hiss and knocked the corpse of the pale Demyx onto the floor, right on the black tar liquid. 

“Not enough it seems” Xemnas growled.  
He turned back to his desk.   
Without looking up, he barked harshly, “He will be awake within seconds, take him back to the others, Axel needs a little more encouraging.”

The shadows flickered and another black clad figure emerged, he sported vivid sky blue hair and a very fresh wound of an X.  
Blood still oozed from the wound and the man bowed his head, not looking at the head doctor. “Yes Sir.”

From the floor, Demyx opened his eyes; they were pitch black with white glowing pupils.

*****

_April 1910_

Riku ducked in between the large garden shrubs when he saw the nurses walked past laughing and mocking the latest patients.  
Twilight Hill had been in more trouble, with Xemnas exclaiming to the media and distraught families of the recently deceased, had been struck down of a deadly virus bought in by new, infected patients.

It was out of control and he was going to fix it, was his pledge to the outside.  
To the normal people that were completely healthy.  
Who would care about a house that housed the mentally ill anyway?

Riku crawled through the rose shrubs, leaping from the front porch. The thorns pricked him but he was used to pain. He lived it, every moment of every day.

Finally, in the green Riku raced to the foliage where immediately a chorus of angry shouts erupted from the hospital. Doctors began to yell and through the commotion, Riku was able to hear the monotone of Xemnas. 

Cringing into the shrubs Riku hugged himself.

He always knew when something bad was going to happen, whether it was a fight, when Xemnas’ temper flared and boiled. 

Even when Xemnas took somebody away to die.

The gardener, a mentally ill patient called Marluxia, he tended to these flowers. Nature around the hospital. It was his passion, he died mid-year last year. He had started to get ill and weak.  
Riku was in the trees hiding when he saw Xemnas walk down those porch steps and approach Marluxia tenderly taking care of the roses. He worked for month’s non-stop to get the seedlings to bloom and grow into beautiful red roses.  
One had.

As Xemnas marched out, Riku saw his eyes flashing a multitude of different colours. Marluxia had smelt the blood red rose and smiled lightly, greeting the doctor politely.  
Riku hadn’t heard them talk, but Xemnas plucked the rose and Marluxia got up and walked into the house behind the doctor.

That night, when Riku had walked past. A crack in the door of Xemnas’ office revealed a half-plucked, withered red rose on the floor. A hand hanging above it.

“Where is the imbecile?” the voice shouted and Riku ducked further in the trees and raced over the shrubs. The doors flung open with a loud bang and two nurses rushed out accompanied by another doctor and Xemnas. 

“Riku!” A nurse called out using her sickly sweet voice. Her face was scared as she fearfully glanced at the head doctor. 

Xemnas scowled and said in a dangerous tone, “Has the boy been taking his medications?”  
The other nurse gulped and replied in a shaky voice, “I do apologise Sir, but we have all had trouble getting Riku to take his medications, he isn’t even eating or drinking anything we are preparing for him.”  
Xemnas refrained from hitting the nurse and he barked harshly, “Let the dogs out, he will come running home then.”

He was hungry, and thirsty, he didn’t deny that. The food smelt different and the water wasn’t clear anymore. It was going an old yellow and smelt bitter. He refused to take anything, his hunger pangs didn’t help with the illness that rampaged on.

The so-called medication did not work.   
Xemnas was a liar, he made everybody suffer.  
Riku heard the dogs barking and snarling as they were let out from the cages from the back of the hospital. He panicked then.

These dogs were dangerous, vicious and angry dogs they were as well. He wouldn’t be able to outrun them.  
Riku darted through the trees along the wall that surrounded the hospital and when he hit a dead end, his breath hitched in his throat. The crashing through the foliage became more audible and Riku looked up to the tree canopy and made the desperate bid to jump up and grab hold of the tree branch.

His arms wobbled as he hoisted himself up and his shoulders cracked in three different places. He collapsed on the branch but forced himself to jump through the closely linked trees, making an above ground path to stay away from the dogs that were now beneath him.

The dogs barked and howled, indicating where Riku was and the boy felt his heart fall to his feet. He wasn’t going to make this. Forcing himself to go on through the trees Riku thought things couldn’t get much worse.

Of course it did, it always did.  
A blinding black pain collided with his mind and the shadows around him circled. His illness reared its ugly head.

Riku began to tremble and convulse on the tree branch, the last of his humanity begging him to hold onto the branch. If he fell, the doctors would get him and it would be the end of anything.  
Hugging the branch to him Riku struggled with the darkness and heaved in deep breaths trying to hold onto some of his humanity. The dogs continued to howl, the doors opened again, and the doctors came out.

Riku struggled but felt his body slightly slipping. Fear pierced him and Riku shook his head trying to blow silver strands from his face.  
Another wave of black hit him and that’s where Riku slipped from the branch. He landed on the huge furry mound of a black and gold dog. There was a yelp and Riku cried out in pain as the pain shot up his side.  
He had to hide.   
Had to get away.

The dogs surrounded him and Riku found himself pinned by the hot, drooling jowls of the dogs. White canines threatened to rip him apart, Riku wanted that threat.   
Through the crashing of the trees, more doctors appeared and they dismissed the dogs.  
Riku let out a cry as rough hands grabbed him; he wasn’t ready to go back inside.  
He couldn’t.

He let out another pained howl and struggled against the doctors, flailing out his legs and squirming his body like a fish. Once he nearly succeeded in wriggling free. But his arms were held securely.   
He began to get pulled along the garden and he continued to cry and howl as he was pulled along the grass towards the hospital doors.  
Brought back into the dimness of the entrance hall, reception area. Riku kicked and struggled valiantly.

He grunted, hissed, and snarled as he was pulled up the stairs onto the second hall and bought into the office, which Xemnas resided in.  
He was pushed in, and the door shut behind him. Leaving him entirely alone.

*****

Naminé walked up the hall with the last of her friends, a nice girl by name of Selphie.

The young mousy haired brunette was thought to be possessed by a demon, her eyes would roll and horrible words that tainted her fair mouth were foul and evil. She would suddenly go into fits and curse uncontrollably and nobody could calm her down. 

It was 6:04 in the evening and everybody was mostly down and eating their evening meals. Naminé walked arm in arm with Selphie and they walked past the patients rooms. Most of the doors were open and the dorms were dark and silent.

Naminé giggled along with Selphie until they turned to the eastern hallway, that’s where Selphie cocked her head and gestured down the hall.  
“Who isn’t down eating their dinner?”

Naminé was curious and they went down the hall and saw a room ablaze with light.  
Peering in both girls saw the room belonged to Riku. The whole room was an entire mess, the bed was tipped and Riku’s precious items were smashed and tossed all over the floor.  
Shocked Naminé let go of Selphie.

Her eyes instantly rolled and jerking her head to the side, she let out a string of foul curse words before her eyes flicked back.  
She let out her breath, apologised before she went back to Naminé’s side, and looked at the catastrophe that lie in front of them.

Where was Riku?  
He wouldn’t destroy his room, especially like this.   
He was a tidy and a very nice boy that respected all of the rules.  
Apparently not.

Unless somebody had done something to him.

Naminé flicked the light off and closed the door, the moonlight shining through the halls lit their way back to the main hall. They went towards the flight of stairs only to see a light flick on in Xemnas’ office.   
There was a lot of commotion.

He would not have heard the girl’s silent journey through the dark, moonlit halls.  
Through the small glass window, Naminé saw the long silver hair of Xemnas and ducked against the wall.  
A black shadow ghosted to the door, it slid open a little bit, and Naminé saw red spikes yet again.  
Selphie peeked in and Naminé clenched her teeth together, dreading on what she would see.

Xemnas from a tiny set of stairs, from a cavity in the roof, dragged down Riku.   
The boy was struggling and seemed paler than usual.  
He kicked, punched, and bit. However, his efforts fell short when he was matched up against Xemnas.

The boy was wrestled upon the same hospital bed that Naminé feared and Xemnas shouted something hoarsely before black mist enveloped Riku and held him in place.   
More mist, erupted from Xemnas’ white gloves and sought its way down Riku’s throat, who immediately began to choke.  
His breath became rapid and fractured and his chest rose from the table as if he was on strings.

A deep hacking sound reverberated through the room and Naminé clenched her eyes shut as the darkness spewed from Xemnas. He grabbed that dreaded black filled needle and plunged it, right through Riku’s heart.   
There was no cry because Riku had shadows down his throat and his eyes began to roll rapidly. Blood ran down the corner of his mouth staining the white sheets and his body bucked involuntarily.

Black veins snaked up the white face and Riku’s eyes went pitch and black before misting over and going a filmy white.  
Xemnas growled in fury and shouted roughly.   
“Failure, dispose of this wretched Spirit.”

Immediately as he withdrew the needle, Riku’s body immediately began to decompose and rot right in front of Selphie and Naminé.  
The body fell away in putrid, vile chunks until there was a skeleton, left lying bare on the bed.  
That’s where Selphie screamed.

She quickly smothered her mouth eyes popping wide as she realised what she had just done. Casting a quick glaze to Naminé, Selphie’s eyes filled with tears.  
Terrified out of her wits, Naminé heard the footsteps and abandoning all courage, Naminé fled.

Selphie didn’t follow her; she stayed rooted to the spot. Hand still over her mouth watching the office door.  
The closest room was Larxene’s and hiding in the darkness behind the door Naminé listened to the dark evil voice of Xemnas.  
“Why aren’t you down stairs with the others?”

No response.  
“What did you see?”  
Selphie let out a distraught and terrified cry, shrieking in her foul words.  
“You fucking killed him; you are a demon possessed man, sent by Satan!”  
She was not possessed by her ill speaking demon this time.  
Xemnas let out a long snarl, “You have seen enough, insolent eavesdropper. You will see what I do as punishment.”  
Selphie screamed and shrieked to be let go, not once did she utter the name of Naminé. Saving her.

As she was dragged screaming into the office, nobody noticed downstairs. The noise never travelled to those ears down below. All they received was silence.

*****

_May 1910_

Selphie had not spoken to Naminé since. She spoke to nobody. She always had a faraway, distant look upon her face. She was always startled back into reality and she didn’t recognise anybody at the hospital.  
After that night with Xemnas,  
Selphie had changed.  
Riku was written down as another virus death.   
His family didn’t care anyway, they were glad; they were finally rid of a burden and an embarrassment to their reputable name.

Naminé and her sister, and others around the hospital where believing the hospital was haunted.  
Lights flicked off, people darting out of the corner of your eyes. Chairs left rocking and temperatures dropping dramatically.  
Twilight Hill was going under and Xemnas grew more and more angry.

*****

_September 1910_

Larxene was failing, over the months she grew sicker and sicker. During the winter was the harshest. Naminé gave up all her available woolen blankets to her sister so she would keep warm; Naminé gave Larxene her spare set of socks, cardigans and coats so her sister wouldn’t suffer.  
A new doctor had arrived at Twilight Hill after graduating from the school. There had been no more deaths.  
Only the creepy hauntings that continued on a daily basis.  
Naminé hear the very tricky word pronounced by the doctor, something beginning with a ‘T’   
Tub- Tuber…  
Tuberculosis

Naminé grew increasingly worried; Larxene was all she had left in this rotten world. If her sister left, the youngest would not know how to live without her.   
Every waking hour, Naminé left Larxene. Who became weak and anxious.  
But she accepted death readily, if it was to end her pain and suffering she was more than welcoming it. She was praying to God, praying that he can hurry up the end for her.  
Deep down, Naminé was terribly hurt. Her sister wouldn’t care in the slightest about leaving her behind. She wanted to leave, leave everything and everybody behind.  
It was so unfair!  
Why couldn’t Naminé be the one dying from the funny sounding disease.

*****

_October 1910_

Larxene was taken into the emergency care on a Tuesday afternoon. Right after lunch.  
It was 12:13 PM  
That was when Larxene vomited all over her bedroom and hacked up more blood than anybody could imagine. She continued to cough and sputter and Naminé heard a nurse joke weakly, that she could cough up her organs.  
It was lame, but trying to lighten the worst was a little appreciative.   
Naminé waited and waited.  
8:10 PM

It was dark in the hallways, right at the end of the eastern hallway Naminé sat outside the intensive care. Waiting for any feedback that included her sister.   
For the third time in months, Naminé saw that same bundle of red spikes, the dark cloaked demon that haunted this hall.

It stopped in front of the door, then slowly turned its head revealing acidic green eyes. “Beware” it said in a low voice, “He is coming, you have to run.”  
Naminé choked on her fear and sat there paralysed for a moment before the red head demon hissed.

The cloak whipped back and black gusted everywhere, green eyes blazed and Naminé cowered against the wall on her chair as another demon arrived.  
Blue hair.  
“You won’t take them, they are innocent,” The red head snarled and the blue head hissed, “Unlike yourself Axel, this is your fault, remember?”  
Naminé watched the standoff between the two demons. The Blue head rushed forward only to be knocked off his feet by the red head and they slammed into the hard wooden floor.

That was then, out of a black hole that had manifested. Xemnas strode out and grabbed the demons. He let the blue head go, snarling an inaudible command and throwing the red head clear across the hall.  
He went for Naminé then.

She whimpered in fear and covered her face with her hands as the shadowed hands loomed above her.   
The red head snarled savagely and there was a wave of intense heat and the furious, pained yell of Xemnas.  
Naminé looked through her fingers and saw Xemnas extinguishing a fire that had erupted out from his body and he glared at the red head demon that was trying to save Naminé.  
“I have had enough of you!” Xemnas snarled.

He whipped his hand forward and pulled the red head closer, he was struggling to get away and a veil of gold surrounded him before Xemnas spat in his face and retorted, “No you don’t.”

Suddenly a jagged black claw, protruding from the sleeve of his white coat. His hand.  
It dribbled black liquid and he thrust it right into the chest of the red head demon. Puncturing what would be his heart.  
The red head howled and his jade green eyes melted from his sockets leaving empty black holes. He fell to the floor and staggered to his hands bleeding from the wound in his chest.

Xemnas snarked from behind him, “You will live in pain Axel, that is your punishment. I don’t care how long I have to wait, I will get the person I need, and you won’t save them… Because you don’t have your heart to care!”  
The demon went up in flames and disappeared and Xemnas turned on Naminé just as the Blue head came out with the limp, dying figure of Larxene. 

The sisters were taken into the office and Naminé watched the needle plunge into the heart of her sister. She screamed and broke her back twisting so hard in an unnatural angle. Her face went black and in a pool of blood she fell and her life was turned to the worst.

She became a demon.  
Naminé was too weak to fight, she heard her sister screaming for mercy and Xemnas yelling pulling Larxene’s hair, “Failure, just like the rest.”  
Naminé just simply closed her eyes until the piercing cold overwhelmed her, her pain, suffering gone. But her fear was still embedded.

Naminé woke up.  
She was still in the hospital, the western corridor on the bottom floor loomed in front of her. This was usually locked tight, and the usual cause of the paranormal activity.   
Naminé looked around in fear, “Larxene?” she called weakly looking around the hall that had begun to mist up.

She jumped as an apparition appeared before her and she recognised the sad, hollowed out face of Riku.  
“I’m sorry Naminé,” he whispered.  
He was a ghost. He had never left.

Naminé screamed and another voice filled the hall. “They can’t hear us Naminé, no matter what we try and do, we are never noticed.”  
Another person appeared, Kairi.

Naminé vaguely recognised her, she had died some five years back and hadn’t been spoken of again.  
“Look at yourself Naminé” Riku whispered his eyes terribly distraught.  
“Xemnas done that to you, done that to all of us.”  
Naminé raised and saw through her ghostly hand.

She done the one thing she wanted to do and she let a wail escape her lips. She spun around to the locked and chained door and pounded her fists against it.  
Only to hear a nurse say to the other patients, “The ghosts are early tonight everybody.”  
It was real, the ghosts were real.  
And now Naminé was one of them…

She was alone…again. She was dead.


	7. The Past Full of Sorrows

**“What were you thinking? Are you aware of the danger you would put us all in?”**   
**“Zexy is right Axel; I thought you couldn’t fee-”**   
**“Shut up, leave me be.”**

Roxas stirred, his eyes fluttered and he received a bout of painful sunlight in his eyes. Squinting them tighter, caused him to wake up further and his consciousness kicked in.   
He became aware of his room around him and opened his eyes slightly.  
His bedroom was swathed in a golden afternoon light.

Completely in a daze for the first waking moment, Roxas was suddenly overwhelmed by the black memories earlier on.  
The shadow in the attic, the pain of falling over. Falling out of the attic.  
Green eyes…

Wait that could have been his Mother, hearing all the commotion? Fighting down the nausea Roxas got up groggily and called out in a weak voice, “Mum?”  
He got no answer and he glanced around his room, a shudder racked his aching body. He stretched out his hand and saw a large black bruise, decorated on it.

He winced, wiggled his finger, and head several cracks and pops in his hand. His eyesight wandered back to the electric blue and green cover of his bed and then to the doors that were opened out to the balcony. 

A slight wind came through the doors, Roxas lifted his head, and from his bedroom door, he saw his brother knock hesitantly. Sora poked his head in.   
He looked incredibly worried. Roxas didn’t deny his entry, Sora came in. 

“Are you alright?” he whispered and Roxas only managed to groan in response.   
His brunette brother sat on the bed beside him and Roxas felt the air tense right up and the heat warmed slightly. 

He rubbed his head and finally managed to whisper in a soft voice, “What happened Sora, I can’t-cant rem-!”  
Sora shook his head and interrupted him, the worry in his voice was concerning for the blonde. “You fell out of the attic, Roxas, what were you doing up there in the first place? Look at you, Mum and Dad will freak if they see you.”  
Roxas bit the inside of his cheek.  
That bad huh?

Sora sighed and unexpectedly hugged his little brother close, “You have to promise me you won’t do anything stupid Roxas, please. Something unnatural is happening here, it’s scaring the shit out of me to be honest.”

Sora was being truthful and out of the corner of his eye, Roxas saw his Ipod on the docking station light up.  
It didn’t scare him much anymore, but it was the song choice that put his nerves to the test, including Sora’s.  
Both brother jumped up as the music started.

It was a freaky song to be playing at this sort of tense moment.  
Sora looked to the docking station then back to his brother as Roxas got up and flicked the station off grumbling about having a faulty Ipod. 

Sora was a little freaked out. He looked around the bedroom and saw no Silhouette. He was free at the moment; he leant towards Roxas who was twiddling the pristine Ipod touch over and over in his hands. 

Not once, had the brothers ever intervened like this in a civil manner.   
As Sora was going to say something Roxas moved his torso towards the door and both brothers heard a crunch in Roxas’ jacket.

His cerulean eyes widened slightly as his hands flew to the zipper on his jacket and he yanked it down.   
A yellowed folder fell out with paper threatening to tear in between. Carefully now Roxas scooted to the backboard of his bed and folded his legs. He presented the papers out in his bed, remembering why he had taken them in the first place.  
Sora breathed out as he saw all the yellowed papers scatter out, and suddenly, three Silhouettes crowded around the bed, unbeknownst to Roxas.

The first sheet was dated back to the date 1890  
There were a few names listed underneath that date, Roxas pointed to the yellowed paper, “Are they like people who dies or something?”

Saix- January 1890  
Xigbar-March 1890  
Zack- September 1890

The next date was revealed when Roxas pulled the sheets over each other and Sora read out the sentences on the other page.

“1893, that’s a few years after that” he didn’t need to gesture to the other page and he continued to read out the names. Only one had been listed under the date of 1893

Xaldin- April 1893

The next page had printed on the top of the page,

Deaths- Cause- Unknown

1898  
Lexaeus-May 1898  
Zexion- July 1898  
Vexen- August 1898  
Luxord- November 1898  
Leon- December 1898  
Yuffie- December 1898

A lot had died in the year of 1898 and Roxas was feeling sick to his stomach as he read. These patients were all murdered here, that was terrible. Whoever was the lead doctor was a sick and twisted liar and a monster.   
The next page of the year 1899 was brief

Tidus- February 1899

The rest of the page was blank and Roxas turned to Sora, “This is horrible” he hissed. “This was beyond so cruel, I feel so sorry for these people.”  
Sora choked back his response and his eyes slid up to the eyeless red head Silhouette, standing above Roxas. His sneer became more evident and claws protruded from his fingers.

1900

Axel-May 1900

It was one name and as Roxas read it, his heart clenched and his head pounded. Axel resonated through the vastness of his head and he began to feel dizzy. He didn’t even know who this Axel was.

He didn’t know that Sora was staring right at him.

An incredible wave of sorrow overcame Roxas and tears brimmed on his eyes. He sniffed aloud and whispered, “I can’t do this anymore Sora, its-its fucking unbelievable.”  
Roxas dropped the sheets on the bed and wiped away a tear that had dared escape the water wall on Roxas’ eyes. 

Sora looked from the angry Silhouette to his distressed brother and whispered, “Rox, this was over a century ago, there was nothing we could have done.”  
Sora picked up the remaining sheets that were dates of deaths and looked through them, “Hey” he remarked, “Not so much died here Rox, look.”  
Roxas sniffed again and grumbled, “People still died though.”

The next date wasn’t dated until 1904 one name was listed.

Yuna-March 1904

Sora quickly skimmed over the page and turned the next one which was dated 1905. It had never let up.

Kairi-August 1905

Roxas cringed into the side of his brother and whispered, “Horrible.”  
He couldn’t see the horrible pained expressions that permeated Sora’s face. His own heart began to fill with sympathy and great grief.

Marluxia-May 1909

Three years in between then but when Sora turned the next page, he saw names he recognised and Roxas spat, “This was the last year before they were shut down, his finger jabbed the paper then paused, before whispering, “That’s the only person who has a reason for dying.”

1910  
Demyx- February 1910  
Riku- April 1910  
Larxene- October 1910- Tuberculosis  
Naminé- October 1910- Death unknown

Sora put down the sheets and sighed heavily, eyeing the pictures that followed.  
Did he really want to look at them?  
Roxas wiped his red face furiously and snarled, “Why didn’t anybody realise? The doctors were killing their patients, they were helpless, what did they do wrong?” Roxas threw his hands up in exasperation, “Oh it makes me so terribly angry.”  
Sora was helpless, what did Roxas want him to do?

He realised the eyeless Silhouette lean closer to Roxas, a smirk clearly visible. His lips parted slowly and revealed razor white teeth. He exhaled gently, brushing aside Roxas’ honey blonde hair.  
Roxas simply battered his hair away, staring at the pictures and spat. “I don’t want to see them.”

Sora saw the Silhouette lean closer breathing in Roxas’ scent and Sora snapped jumping off the bed. Startling Roxas and the three Silhouettes gathered in the room. “Enough” he rasped glaring at the now smirking red head, Axel.

The Silhouette sneered and rasped in a dull remark, “What are you going to do, mundane?”   
Sora gaped like a fish and he heard Roxas exclaim angrily, “I knew you didn’t care, you heartless prick.”  
He threw his hands up again scattering the pictures everywhere. One remained smack bang in the center of him though and Roxas looked down.  
It was an incredibly old, black and white photograph.  
It depictured a sallow looking, young man with a bundle of vicious spikes serving as hair. Tattoo’s decorated his cheekbones and the gaze penetrated Roxas’.

**AXEL**  
Roxas yelled out in anger and jumped off the bed, he ran to the balcony needing fresh air. He leant against the railing watching the golden glow of the sun disappear and the dusk stars began to appear.

A million things raced through his mind and he simply broke down into exhausted and pained tears once again.

**“What have you done to him Axel?”**   
**“Do not accuse me of anything; I have done nothing of yet.”**   
**“You wouldn’t dare!”**   
**“You can’t stop me Zexion, Roxas is mine and I plan to keep it that way.”**   
**“Axel-”**   
**“Shut up, I’m doing it… tonight!”**

Sora picked up the papers hastily; he had never seen Roxas so distressed over things like this before.   
Sure, he had sulked and moped when the family dog Maisee had died last year. However, that was a dog, he hadn’t cried then.

These people had been dead over a hundred years and Roxas was bawling?  
Sora looked to the shape of his brother on the balcony and decided against it. The red Silhouette was already anxious enough having him in there, if he went to the balcony. He would be pushed for sure.

Roxas heard his brother leave the room and he sighed, enjoying the peace once again. Down in the garden he saw his father wrestling open an ancient garden shed to put his tools in. 

Down below he heard his mother come in singing, she was always so happy. There were some thuds in the kitchen and then her merry footsteps rang up the hallway.  
Roxas tensed, he was covered in bruises, he had to hide them.  
Before he could dart back into his room and vainly hide the big black blotches Aerith came in and spotted them.

“Oh my! Roxas, honey what have you done to your face?”  
An excuse was made up on the spot and Roxas didn’t hesitate in lying, “Oh I fell out of bed and whacked my head against the bedside table, didn’t you see it before?”  
He made sure to hide his blackened hands behind his back.

Aerith clicked her tongue and went over to her son and kissed his forehead, “Do you know tomorrow is Tuesday? We have enrolled you and your brother into the adorable little school, you start Thursday. We have to go shopping!”

“Are you kidding?” Sora sighed “Again?”

Roxas felt his heart harden and drop to the floor.   
School? You had to be kidding him, how had he forgotten?  
Fuck it all to hell.

Aerith noticed his stony expression and smiled, “Oh darling, it will be better than the school in Hollow Bastion, you won’t be picked on there.”  
Roxas gritted his teeth, “Yeah thanks Mum” he grumbled, he flopped down onto his bed and Aerith made a small noise as she left the room, she was talking to Sora soon on after.  
Roxas mulled it over in his head, fuck, fuck, fuck. 

School!?

He despised it, he never had friends.   
He was picked on.

What could get worse? Honestly.  
His room got darker and darker and Roxas lifted his head, dragged himself over to the lamp, and flicked it on.  
A slight breeze indicated that he needed to shut the balcony door. Heaving up with an over exaggerated groan Roxas wandered over to the door and shut it. That was before he saw a solid black shadow dart over the grass. It kept coming and coming, Roxas felt fear spike his legs, and he slammed the glass door harder than he intended. The solid black shape whizzed upside the house shaking Roxas’ room. He saw the distinct colour of yellow and then there was a big thump in the attic. Like somebody had dropped a body.  
Roxas shuddered, feeling scared all over again.  
His-life-sucked.

**“Oh don’t worry my precious blonde; I will be able to protect you much better after tonight.”**

Roxas felt a presence beside him and spun around to see nobody. The hair on his neck prickled with fear and he looked around his softly lit bedroom. Fucking beyond a joke this was.

Why was Roxas afraid of the paranormal and nobody else?  
With fright still thumping in his chest, Roxas forced himself to calmly walk to the door of his room and go down the stairs. 

He would have liked to turn on all the lights, just to make him feel better. It was absolutely absurd but hey, if it made things more comfortable.  
Ignoring his frazzled nerves and the fear continuing to hit his insides, Roxas found himself walking, slowly but surely into the kitchen where he saw his father in the kitchen rummaging around in the refrigerator.

With a grim feeling clutching his chest, Roxas sighed and walked into the kitchen and prepared for the nights festivities. 

*****

“Tell me what I have to do Riku!”  
Sora paced around his room after his Mother had left. The bandages were falling around his feet and he glared at the silver haired ghost that was perched upon the bed. Sora had sounded angrier than what he had intended and from the quilts, Riku huffed and scowled, sending a venomous look towards Sora.  
“What do you want me to do Sora? I am not as strong as the Silhouettes, there are twelve of them, and I’m just me, One Spirit.”

Sora growled deep in his throat and spat, “You’re the one always going on about the danger of these fucks, you should know more shit about them, I was called a mundane, I’m a human dealing with the supernatural, there is nothing I can do.”  
Riku was grim, “There are acts you can do, you can get the hell out of this house and save everybody, before everything turns for the worst.”

*****

Roxas moped at the dinner table, a million things crossed over in his mind and he just stabbed his food idly, not conversing himself in any of the conversation that was buzzing around him.

“Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it in my bones.”

Sora lowered his voice and watched his brother intently, Roxas didn’t eat and his face was paler than usual. His eyes quickly darted here and there nervously and sheen of sweat was clearly seen on his forehead.   
He stabbed his salad, then dropped his fork. It clattered noisily on the porcelain and both Aerith and Cloud looked to their son.

“Are you ok honey?” Aerith frowned slightly; delicately she put down her fork and got up out of her chair to place her hand on Roxas’ shoulder.  
He jumped a mile in the air at her slight touch and looked around wildly. His gaze rested on his mother and Aerith bent down, “What’s the matter sweetheart is something bothering you?”

Sora glared at Roxas, silently demanding an answer.  
What the hell had happened? Did a Silhouette get to him, show themselves?  
It infuriated Sora and he clenched his utensil until his knuckles went snow white and his fingernails dug right into his skin.  
But what could he do? Nothing, that was what.

He couldn’t waltz up to his parents and just say in casual conversation, “Mum, Dad, our house is haunted, me and Roxas are being terrified by spirits and demons. I suggest we leave the house, leave Twilight Town and let everything go”.  
Fuck, he would sound, like a complete and utter dickhead.  
There was no way in the way of the earth that Aerith would give up the house she loved so much. She didn’t know of the demons that lurked in the shadows.   
Sora jumped a little when Cloud suddenly said between mouthfuls of food, “What’s the matter with you kid?”

Sora blushed and looked around then murmured incoherently and turned his head to his dinner plate. Roxas done the same with their mother and Aerith sighed.   
“Is it about going back to school Roxas? You know you have to go back sweetie, you can’t just destroy everything you have been working for”.  
Roxas stood up then.  
His chair clattered to the floor behind him and he glared at everybody at the table before he spat.   
“Working towards what Mum?”

He held out his hands as a gesture and he shouted, “I have nothing! I have no friends, I’m hardly noticed at home, Mum, come on everybody even knows it because Sora blabbed to everybody that I was gay!”

His face fell at the last statement and Sora looked to his mother in exasperation and there was a clatter from the front of the table, “W-What!?”  
Roxas refused to look at his father and he added, “There’s nothing to lose with me” he said this quietly and he stepped over his chair and disappeared up into the darkness of the stairs.

Aerith bit her lip and slowly, very slowly turned to her husband.   
Cloud was dumbfounded, his mouth was open, eyes wide and disgusted. Sora bit his lip and Aerith whispered, “Don’t judge him Cloud.”  
Cloud looked up to his wife, “You knew!?”

Aerith’s eyes widened and then glistened, “Don’t say anything to him; he is already upset enough as it is, he is part of the reason we moved Cloud. It made me feel horrible to see him so alienated, especially in his own family.”  
Sora rose from his seat, trying to hide from sight at the yelling fight that was going to ensue. 

“You never told me that one of my sons were gay” Cloud implied, his tone growing more hard. “That is nothing I can be proud of Aerith, the kid barely doesn’t do anything anyway, he sits alone in his room, writes all that story shit, listens to that stupid Ipod all the time, no wonder he is a failure.”

Aerith narrowed her eyes, “How dare you, he is your son, how come I knew that you would bring him down. You never pay attention to him, you leave him out of your life, no wonder he acts the way he does.”

“That’s why Aerith, you baby the kids far too much, they are turning out into poofs.”  
Aerith scoffed and spun around, “What is your problem? I do not baby the boys, I simply love them, something you cannot do.”

Roxas shut the door quietly breaking off the fight that had started down stairs. The door clicked shut softly and Roxas sniffed back the tears that had welled in his eyes. Leaning against the door heavily, Roxas slumped down sliding down to the floor. Lifting his arms, Roxas used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the tears away.

With cheeks burning Roxas looked around his dimly lit room and hit his head back against the door. Now his parents were fighting, over him.  
He could still hear the yelling from downstairs and sat there for a moment in silence holding his breath.

When he finally let it go, he got to heavy feet and staggered to his bed. Leaning over he grabbed his Ipod and stared into the black reflection. Staring at the reflection, the mess of himself.  
He felt like a fuckwit.

Holding the Ipod Roxas let his head drop onto the quilt then snapped it back up. His gaze on the Ipod,   
“Please” he whispered to it, “If you are real, this paranormal shit, please, please help me.” 

He dropped his head again onto the blankets and dropped his Ipod; he was greeted by silence and nothing else. Except the occasional yell from his Father or his Mother.  
After his supply of oxygen ran dry from his lungs, Roxas snapped his head back up and rolled over slinging his arms over the bed and he spoke to himself heavily.  
“Why me?”  
Silence

Listening to the crickets for a while longer, Roxas sat up when he heard dragging up in the attic. Somebody dragging their heavy body along the floorboards.   
Scary shit, again.

The dragging continued then stopped, then there were solid thumps on the roof, banging their fists, on Roxas’ roof, above his bedroom. Dust came from the roof, along with tiny particles of plaster.   
Roxas sat up further, sitting on the side of his bed looking up at the roof.   
Why him?

Now he was terrified to leave the light of the bedroom.   
From his bed, his Ipod illuminated, playing only a couple of lines from one song.

The Ipod shut off, going black and Roxas just sighed, feeling incredibly tired and stressed. He just couldn’t handle anything anymore, what was the easiest way out of this?  
He glanced at his docking station, which illuminated the time of 7:56  
He had to kill time; he didn’t want to go to bed too early.  
But he was tired, mentally and physically.

Going to his cupboard, Roxas retrieved his pyjama pants, bed shirt, and stripped to put them on.  
Climbing into bed Roxas fell back against his mound of pillows and let out a breath. Bed, early it was then.

Leaning over and turning off the light, Roxas fell asleep managing to drone out the fight of his parents and the groaning in the attic.

*****

Roxas started awake at the slight sound of a footstep and groggily wiped away the water and sleep in his eyes. He gazed over to his soft light of the docking station  
11:59

He groaned, that was the absolute worst. Waking up before it was even midnight. How long had he been asleep? Over three hours?  
God Dammit.

With his cussing thoughts and anger rising in his chest, Roxas didn’t see the time turn over to 12 midnight.

However.  
He stopped when he heard a small breath and the end of the bed sunk in. His mattress groaned at the extra weight, slowly but surely, Roxas felt a presence above him. Leaning over him.

Slowly through the darkness, he saw the outline of a face come closer and closer to his. It came so close that Roxas felt cold breath on his cheek and he let out a soft whimper of fright.

Suddenly, the room was alight, with an incredibly soft and dark yellow light. Roxas was face to face with a man with vivid red hair and soulless black eyes.  
His heart fell from his chest and Roxas felt everything drain from him, any feeling or thought of rationality fled him and he wanted to scream.  
Axel, Axel, Axel.

The name practically bounced inside his head, giving him a headache. But this was Axel, lying above him, on his bed. Smirking almost cruelly, with no eyes.  
Roxas gulped and the figure dipped his head to whisper in his ear, “You asked for help, so I came, I will give you your help.”

Roxas couldn’t utter a sound and the Axel, or whatever it was, smirked again, purple tattoo’s glowing vividly, “Are you scared of me now?”  
There was another gust of warm air and Axel was jerked away by two figures, a boy, with sandy blonde hair and one with dark indigo hair.

Roxas finally managed to choke out, but barely above a whisper “W-What are you?”  
The younger one smirked in his direction; eyes pitch black with pinpoints of glowing white for the pupil. 

“Oh Roxas” it chuckled.  
“We are the Silhouettes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music that inspired this chapter: 
> 
> Running out of time - Simple Plan
> 
> Know your enemy - Green Day


	8. The Hour of Separation

Roxas let out a deep and shuddering breath as the sandy blonde uttered these words.  
They knew his name!

They were Silhouettes.

The red head, Axel, snarled at the demons holding him back, “Let me go” he rasped. His gaze was still on Roxas and he struggled valiantly. “Leave me be!”  
Roxas slowly sat up clutching his quilt watching the three black clad figures that stood on the end of his bed. 

All he saw was their silhouettes against the moon light; he had forgotten to shut the blinds that night. At least he could fathom they were somewhat solid.  
The heat intensified in his room and Roxas stared at the red head. His eyes were dark, hollow and seemingly endless. 

They were dark holes, but Roxas was able to see the emotions swirling, welling and washing over in an endless turmoil of black. He could read the emotions, the depth, and anger but overall, there was the pain.

He was terrified, what the hell were they? They were living in his room, were they the ones terrifying him with the freaky shit?  
He sucked in another breath and finally asked in a shaky voice, “W-What are you?”

He gained their full attention immediately and the young one smirked, he went misty and swooped to Roxas. He hovered right over Roxas’ face, suspended in the air. His face was smoky and Roxas was able to hear Axel hiss warningly, jerking against the other misty demon.

“I have already told you!”  
He misted away, manifesting at the side of Roxas’ bed.   
Roxas kept his eye on it wearily and finally the serious face dropped on the demon and a smile brightened the features. “Oh you don’t have to be scared of us; we have been protecting and watching you ever since you moved into this house.”

A frown permeated Roxas’ face, “Protecting me from what? You have fucking scaring the shit out of me!” He dropped the blankets, the warmth getting a little too much for his liking and glared at the three individuals. 

He was still weary and scared but anger was quietly on the rise.   
He snapped abruptly, “So are you like demons or something?”  
The young one shook his head, hair falling in his face, “Nope”  
“Are you Ghosts?”  
“Wrong”  
“Poltergeists?”  
“No!”  
The young black figure snickered and leant forward holding up his hand. “Go ahead, we’re solid.”

Roxas stared at the hand, it was white with the ashy tinge to it and he looked back up at the figure that smirked again and said, “I dare you.”

Biting the head of his fear, Roxas slowly lifted his hand, closer and closer. The tip of his fingers brushed the open palm of the young man, he was surprised to feel skin, and he was solid.

The figure chuckled, “We are Silhouettes, dead, but not quite dead.” Roxas dropped his hand and stared at the so-called Silhouettes, he felt the fear rise again. The red head Axel, snarled, he broke from the grip of the other Silhouette and rushed forward pushing the other one away. 

“Back off” he snarled almost possessively, “Do that again Demyx and I will rip your head off.”  
The air was tense again, fear was the dominant emotion again and Roxas quickly made a grab for his blankets. Axel whipped his head back to Roxas and the deep black holes that served as his eyes flashed a deep green.

The deep indigo haired Silhouette started forward and said in a stern voice, “You have no idea what you are doing Axel, this will cause a total uproar.”  
Axel ignored the statement and advanced on Roxas his fists curling and uncurling, “Oh don’t be scared” he mocked. 

Outside the wind buffeted the house and there was a thump from in the attic. Causing all three Silhouettes to look up immediately Roxas gripped the quilt again and Axel snarled looking back to Roxas with a brief flutter of concern in his soulless eyes.

Before Roxas could comprehend what was happening Axel was on top of him. His head thumped back on his pillows and the wind was knocked from him. His eyes widened in fear but no noise would escape his chest and he stared up helplessly at the red head on top of him.

There was a noise of shock and the other Silhouettes started forward, Axel bent his head down revealing the flash of razor white teeth. He got closer and then opened his mouth and bit right into the flesh, in the crevice of Roxas’ shoulder and neck.

A sharp pain ripped right through Roxas but he was still unable to cry out and had to endure the incredibly sharp pain.   
The pain subsided to a dull ache and Axel pulled away, blood had smeared across his fangs and his lips. Roxas thrashed around in his bed feeling the blood race down his shirt and he looked back at Axel only to see that the Silhouette licked his lips of the blood and green eyes blazed with emotion.

He had eyes now, emerald green eyes.

However, the green only blazed only once before the eyes settled to a black with the white pupils like the eyes of the other Silhouettes. Axel purred audibly “You’re mine now my blonde.”  
Roxas was overwhelmed with shock when Axel misted from on top of him to the end of his bed.  
He was terrified, what the hell had just happened?

Tentatively he lifted his hand and was astounded to feel a large gaping hole on his neck. It wasn’t a simple bite, like a vampire bite or shit. It was a fucking hole; he traced it and guessed it was the size of his palm. 

Pulling his fingers away Roxas found them stained with red and black together. The blood dribbled down his fingers and he realised that he no longer felt any pain. His hand shook uncontrollably and he gazed back up at the Silhouettes, the young one, Demyx looked incredibly worried, the indigo one looked stony and cold. 

Then the scream built up in his chest, he was going to scream for his parents, hell even for Sora. The breath built up in his chest and before he could release it, Axel was back on top of him slapping his incredibly hot hand over his mouth. 

After a moment, Roxas was able to feel his face burning from the heat emanating from the hand. Axel leaned in closer his eyes flashing white briefly before he hissed, “You can’t get rid of me Roxas, no matter what, no matter how hard you try and get away you will always come crawling back.”

Roxas was far to panicked to take in entirely at what Axel said. His thoughts coursed through his mind.   
If Axel couldn’t leave the house, then hell, Roxas was going to leave the goddamned house. Anything to escape this, it wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real.  
Axel smirked maliciously and bent down to whisper into Roxas’ ear, making him shudder delicately, “Oh it isn’t that easy, my blonde.”

Roxas squirmed away whimpering unintentionally trying to pull away from Axel. He simply chuckled, “Oh don’t worry Roxas, it won’t be last of me.”   
He touched his forehead to Roxas’, “Trust me.”  
Roxas saw the darkness swirl around him and the last thing he remembered seeing was the flashing eyes of the Silhouette above him.

*****

As the light streamed in the next morning, Roxas woke up with a scream bubbling in his chest. He jerked his head up and found that his pillow was wet. He felt incredibly dizzy and as it cleared, he lightly touched his pillow and looked around at the room, being filled with light.  
He was washed over by the memories of the night before and he panicked. He flung off his quilt cover and jumped out of bed.  
He landed with a large crash and the lamp on the bedside table swayed dangerously before crashing the floor.   
“Fuck this” he muttered “Was it just a dream? Please say it was only a dream!”

Roxas raced to the bedroom door and wrenched it open, his footsteps echoed and he went out into the chilly hallway. Immediately there was a crash behind him and Roxas yelped and jumped when he barricaded into the figure of his Brother across the hallway.

Sora grabbed hold of his brother; the crash had scared the daylights out of him. Roxas yelled out in fright and threw himself side-to-side, trying to get out of Sora’s grip. Sora stumbled and said in shock, “Roxas, Roxas, what the hell is the matter with you?”

Sora lost his grip on Roxas and grabbed his shirt pulling it out. He gasped when he saw a wicked scar on his brother’s shoulder. He let Roxas go.  
The blonde staggered over the boundary line into the Spirit side and there was a yowl and a menacing hiss in response. 

Sora spun around desperately and saw Riku walk out of the wall, a serious expression on his face; another spirit Sora had not seen before followed him. A man, he had black hair and sky blue eyes. He wore a grim expression and Riku barked, “Sora stop him.”

The brunette obeyed and caught Roxas again, his mouth dropped open at the spirits in front of him and then yelled hysterically,   
“You knew Sora, you bastard, you knew! What the fuck is going on here?”  
Sora shouted back, “You never let me explain anything Roxas!” Sora wrestled with Roxas and they fell to the floor, fighting.

Riku looked at the brothers and said harshly, “Zack, quickly!” Both spirits stepped forward, Riku grabbed Roxas with Sora, and Zack yanked the blondes head back.  
There was another snarl and Sora yelped as the red head Silhouette bared his teeth and smashed himself against the invisible barrier.  
Roxas cried out in horror, “Keep him away from me! Stay away!”  
That was when Sora saw the ugly bite scar on his brother neck.

Zack looked up his eyes going wide, “Bitten! He’s been bonded Riku.” Sora jerked up to the red head Silhouette and spat, “It was him, you bastard, you fucking bit my brother.” Roxas struggled free and he yelled hysterically “No, this can’t be happening.”  
The blonde shook his head and staggered slightly before running down the stairs. Riku shouted “No, don’t.” 

Sora looked at the Spirit and Riku glared at Axel, “What have you done? Demon!”  
Axel hissed and Sora saw green eyes, wait! Green eyes? Sora jumped again, where there was the sound of smashing glass. “Roxas!” Sora shouted and ignoring Riku’s pleas to stop, the brunette brother dashed down the stairs.

Roxas clattered down the stairs and fell in to the kitchen, he looked around the house around him in fright and he shuddered. He went to take another step before there was a searing pain in his neck. It was as if somebody had stabbed him, it was excruciating. Roxas let out a strangled yell of pain and shock and fell against the island bar knocking down a porcelain plate to the floor. 

It smashed beside him, Roxas flung his hands out, and his hand connected with a shard of glass, slicing his palm open. He cried out in pain again and he fell to the tiles blood staining his shirt as he clutched his hand in the fabric. 

He saw Sora come skidding in, he was wearing socks. Then through the front door, Aerith come running in, her eyes widened as she bustled into the kitchen. Roxas on the floor among scattered glass and blood. She came in beside Sora and helped her youngest son up, clicking her tongue. 

Her hands began to tremble and she opened the hand of her son and pulled the glass out. Roxas was shivering and terribly white, Sora made sure to fix his shirt to hide the scarred wound on the blonde.   
Roxas’ eyes opened and he stared at his mother and his pale lips opened and he said slowly, “I don’t like it here Mum.”  
Aerith pursed her lips and both of the boys saw the tears glistening in their Mother’s eyes. She didn’t say anything and she hauled Roxas up who yelped in pain again.   
Aerith thought it was the hand.

Sora saw the Silhouette, in the sitting area cringe as well. His eyes were green fire that burned right into Sora’s and he snarled, baring teeth, “Give him back, you can’t help him.” 

Sora turned back when he saw Riku come through the cupboards and shrugged.   
Riku scowled at the red head and back to the wounded Roxas and hissed to Sora, “Are you aware of what is happening?” when he received a shake of the head, he pointed to the Silhouette. “Roxas belongs to him, that pain that is the result of being away from that vile creature.”

Axel paced the border his face contorting with rage, flames were burning up his black cloak and Riku muttered, “Sora, this is getting dangerous now, Roxas needs to understand what has happened to him.” Sora bit his lip watching his mother and brother, he didn’t talk out loud. He would sound like a moron.

Feelings ran through him, like a stray firecracker had been let loose in his chest. Sora looked to Roxas who was staring wide eyed at Riku. He held his mother in a death grip and Aerith stood up to embrace her son tenderly.  
This resulted in another angry hiss from the Silhouette and Axel threw himself against the barrier.   
It was getting more desperate and Riku muttered, “I don’t enjoy this one bit Sora, either we take Roxas into our room and explain, but that will infuriate more than the one Silhouette. Or leave Roxas to learn it for himself.”

Sora was alarmed and he glared at Riku almost shouting at him. But before he could get a sound out Riku held out his hand and gestured to the still pacing Axel, “He will be looked after, don’t fret Sora, but I am saddened that it turned this way for the worst.”

Riku drifted away and Sora jerked back into reality when Aerith said soothingly, “It’s alright baby, it’s just a cut, and look there’s no blood.”  
Roxas refused to let go of Aerith who frowned and turned to Sora, “what have you done to him, why was he like this in the first place?” 

Sora defended himself, “I was upstairs, he came down here and fell over like the little dork he is Mum, don’t blame me for anything!”  
Roxas was a deathly shade of white and his lips were going an ash colour, Axel was growling, a deep rumble that shook Sora’s bones. Roxas shook again, another tremor rocked his body, and Aerith said in a worried voice, “you’re getting ill Roxas, you will march right up those stairs and get back into your bed, I can’t have you collapsing on your first day of school.”

As she said this Roxas panicked and went to lunge at his Mother but she held out her hand then pointed to the stairs, saying in a stern voice, “No, Roxas, up there, immediately.”

“No!” Roxas cried hysterically “No! You can’t. I’m NOT going back up there.” Breaking past Aerith and Sora, Roxas made a mad, yet wobbly dash for the front door.  
“Roxas!” Aerith cried out in surprise and horror, “Roxas come back inside right now!” She and Sora went running for the front doors and Roxas went careening out onto the green terrace crying out hysterically.

Sora dashed out onto the terrace after his little brother as Aerith stood in the doorway of the Mansion.   
The Brunette collided with the Blonde, “Roxas, please listen” he pleaded, “Listen to me.” Roxas wasn’t going to have any of it though. “No” he screamed right back “Don’t you hear me Sora! What the hell is going on? Please say its Make-Believe!”

“R-Roxas” Sora grunted as he tried to keep a firm grip on a wiggling Roxas, “It’s not Make Believe. Look, I’m trying to HELP you.”

**“Zexion! Stop the Mother. We can’t allow her to find out!”**   
**“You are the one acting foolish Axel.”**   
**“I didn’t know he would react like this.”**

Before Sora could even get his brother under control, he saw three Silhouettes appear on the balcony, the Indigo haired one brushing his hand over Aerith’s head and knocking her out. She collapsed on the wood with a ‘thump’ and this only made Roxas more hysterical.

With an incredible feat of strength, Roxas hurled Sora to the grass and took off down the driveway sprinting as fast as he could.  
“ROXAS!”

There was a rush of wind that swept past Sora; he saw the misty figure of Axel go running after Roxas. He caught up to the fleeing blonde within seconds; he wrapped his black clad arms around him and swung him around.

“No!” Roxas shrieked, “Let me go! Demon! Leave me alone.”  
He kicked out his legs and struggled valiantly against the Silhouette, the sheer desperation to get away was evident on Roxas’ face. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he thrashed wildly against the grip around him.

Suddenly, Axel’s legs fell out beneath him and the Silhouette and the human collapsed in the grass, Axel’s arms enveloping a frantic Roxas.  
Sora could only see the golden spikes of his brother, the rest of him obscured by the black mist of the Silhouette. “Leave him alone!” Sora yelled out angrily, scrambling to his feet “Leave my brother.”

Sora dashed across the grass towards the couple on the grass, but again, another gust of wind enveloped him and tripped Sora, landing face first in the grass. He began to cough and splutter and the cheery voice of the young Silhouette rang out. “I’m sorry, you can’t go near them.”

A cold splash of water fell about Sora, the brunette looking up to see a bubble of water surrounding him. He turned his head to see the Silhouette grinning at him mischievously, his hand still wrapped around Sora’s foot. “This is something Axel has to do.”

 

Roxas was still in full-blown panic mode when the world around him became dark. With a desperate sob, he felt Axel’s face fall on his shoulder and his dark voice rung in his ear. “There is no point running away from me.”  
“Y-You’re a Demon,” Roxas breathed into the black cloak, “Y-You’re going to torture and eat me.”  
“Torture…maybe. Eat? No.”

Roxas pushed against the body again, but he found all his adrenaline had run out and he was out of strength. “I’m…I’m scared.”  
“Don’t be scared Roxas, your Brother didn’t panic like this. Everything you do against me will be futile. I suggest you stop.”

The shaking ceased and Axel let his grip on the human falter. Without taking his arms away, he allowed Roxas to lift his head. His cerulean eyes were large and watering with fright, Axel was able to see the shadows and dark memories behind the dazzling blue. Where his fear had stemmed from. 

“S-Sora?” Roxas mumbled turning his head “W-Where…?” his eyes fell upon the water bubble where Sora was trapped and he tried to push Axel away “L-Leave Sora alone!”  
Much to his mild surprise Axel obliged. He lifted a hand above his head and yelled out “Demyx! Let him go!”

Roxas looked back up to the face of the pale Silhouette, his cheeks stained with black veins and his gleaming white and black eyes giving way to a sheen of green as he calmed down. 

“If you calm down Roxas” Axel said in a dark voice “I promise I will tell you what is going on here. However, enough with the running away. I really do not want to leave the House again while the Shadows are prowling.”

*****

Sora stood at the boundary between the Kitchen and Lounge-room, worry coursing through his body. He watched the red head stand protectively around his brother. Sora hissed, “Roxas, what the hell are you thinking?” he hit his fists on the kitchen bench and looked helplessly to Riku. “What do I tell him?”

Roxas was noticeably looking better, the colour had returned to his cheeks and his eyes were shining with what Sora was convinced was tears.   
Roxas sat up, glaring at Sora from the lounge and almost shouted in a furious voice, “What the hell is this Sora? You fucking knew and didn’t tell me.” 

He was angry and scared and Sora threw his hand out towards Axel, “He is a Silhouette, he and far more others haunt that side of the house, he wanted you Roxas, but you fucking wouldn’t listen to me!”

Axel bared his teeth at Sora hovering close to Roxas who shied away staring at his brother with wide furious eyes. “You’re little Casper friends aren’t that spectacular either you ass, what else haven’t you told me? Were they the ones to turn your feet bright blue?”

Sora pursed his lips, “I can’t help you anymore Roxas, we are all in danger, and I don’t have a fucking clue what to do.”  
He shook his head, “Now you can’t leave him!” the brunette snarled in his throat and spun around walking up the stairs leaving Roxas to gaze fearfully at the figure above him.

Axel smirked down at him, “Oh he is right, though incredibly stupid, the boy is right.”  
Roxas got up from the lounge, “Get away from me” he demanded and skittered away, trying to gain some distance from the Silhouette. 

Axel’s eyes narrowed dangerously and he said in a soft voice, “You haven’t learnt that lesson have you?”  
Roxas ignored him and walked into the kitchen, immediately overcome with dizziness and the pain in his shoulder again. He groaned clutching it and Axel hissed behind him, “What did I tell you!”

Roxas looked back to the Silhouette his breath hitching, “I-I don’t even know, who you are, you died here like over a hundred years ago, now you are torturing me.” Axel smirked in between grimaces of pain, “Well now you have the chance to know me, now get the hell away from that side.”

Roxas scoffed ignoring the mounting pain; there was no fucking way his life was like this. He was Roxas Strife, a normal boy, with normal problems.   
None of this paranormal shit No, no not at all. 

Roxas staggered further in falling against the sink and there was a gust of cold air. He looked up startled to see a tall man. He had brown hair and had a jagged scar running across his face. He was a ghost, he didn’t look friendly.

Roxas felt more fear pierce him and the ghost looked incredibly steely and grabbed his arm. It hurt!  
Roxas cried out and Axel yelled, “Roxas, come to me, NOW!”

Roxas struggled against the ghost, it had a grip on him and it began to freeze his skin. Veins of purple began to snake down from the sleeve of his shirt and Roxas struggled away, the pain from being away from the Silhouette becoming far too much again.

“I will have to kill you” the ghost sneered and Roxas whimpered throwing himself to the side, wrenching his arm away. The ghost grunted as he lost his grip and Roxas staggered back over to the lounge and Axel wrapped his arms around him snarling at the ghost. “I will get you, Oh I will get you.”  
Roxas didn’t like where he was and again tried to pull away, but a sharp pain was in his arm. 

Axel growled softly in his throat and gently lifted up the sleeve of his shirt. There were black and blue fingermarks from where the ghost had gripped him. Like frostbite and Roxas groaned. 

Axel enveloped the black and blue discolorations with his warm hand, Roxas didn’t admit it, but it felt good. He stopped struggling momentarily but he jumped when there was a clatter of footsteps down the stairs.   
The other two Silhouettes appeared Demyx and the nameless one Roxas had not caught the name of. 

Demyx hovered close and he whispered, “What happened Axel? This can’t be good.” He looked back to the other Silhouette, “Zexion, if the Spirits attacked Roxas, does that mean we can attack their pet?”  
Roxas spoke up without thinking, “Don’t hurt Sora” he exclaimed horrified “Don’t lay a finger on my Brother!”

Demyx turned his gaze on Roxas and eyes the frostbite mark on his arm and the dangerous, possessive look Axel had decorated on his face. He frowned, “But his little ‘Protectors’ hurt you, why should we stand back and watch what they do to you?”  
Axel said in a shaking voice, “They will pay, I will get my revenge Demyx, don’t you worry.”  
The indigo haired Silhouette, Zexion murmured. “Here is not the place to be talking; I propose we go back to the bedroom.”

 

Roxas stared at the gash on his palm and then looked up, “So let me get this straight, you aren’t ghosts or anything, immortals?”  
Demyx nodded, finally having the opportunity to touch and look at Roxas’ belongings. “Yep, we are Dark Immortals, damned to live forever because of the bastard that made us that way.”

He touched the TV looking at his reflection, grinning as he did so and Zexion added on. “The Spirits, on the other side of the house, make us out to be dangerous. We are rivaling sides, all killed by the one person, a natural enmity runs deep within our veins, our powers clash at the boundary that runs directly through the house, only the Silhouettes have the power to actually leave the house however.”

Roxas clenched his hand ignoring the sharp pain; Axel however hissed as he felt it as well and came over to trace the gash on Roxas’ hand.  
He tried to pull away and asked rather rudely, “So what the fuck was my idiot brother on about ‘bonding’ or shit like that.”

Demyx stood up from the TV and said matter-of-factly, “It’s rather dangerous, because that’s the one way how we die.” Zexion frowned at him and sighed, “He is right, to kill one of us, you need to kill or destroy the person or object they are ‘bonded’ to.”  
Roxas frowned and Demyx said, “Ok, if you were killed, Axel will die.”

Axel snarled then snapped, letting go of Roxas’ hand, “Then to kill Demyx, kill Zexion.” He smirked and Demyx folded his arms and laughed sarcastically, “Oh so smart Axel, ha-ha-ha.”  
Roxas curled up into a ball on his bed, drawing his knees up to his chin, feeling sick, “I didn’t want this.”

Demyx scoffed and there was a snort from the doorway, “Well you are going to have to toughen up Princess.”  
Roxas snapped his head up and saw another Silhouette wander in; He had long black hair with streaks of silver and was trying to make a statement with an eye patch.   
Demyx smiled, “Hello Xigbar, look, this is Roxas. Roxas meet Xigbar.” The much older looking Silhouette gazed at Roxas then said in a gravelly voice, “You’re one of us now, you can’t crawl into bed and wish it away, you are stuck with us now.”

Axel watched him wearily and Roxas asked in a frightened voice, “How many of you are there?”  
Xigbar smiled, his one yellow eye blazing into Roxas, “In total, there is twelve of us.”  
Roxas gulped and Axel whispered, “I will protect you Roxas, don’t worry.”

Roxas pulled away, “I don’t need your protection,” he hissed and Axel just gazed at him evenly with jade green eyes.  
Roxas mumbled into his knees incoherently and then asked, “What happens to the rest of my family?” Zexion looked up from Roxas’ desk, “We will leave your parents be, just as long as they are not aware of us.”

Xigbar finished, “Sora, he is your enemy now Roxas, you have to be careful.”   
The blonde felt sadness clutch his chest, and squeezed his knees tighter. Axel nodded and added grimly, “But one thing we all have in common, we are all in danger from…Xemnas.”

*****

“You did what?” Sora looked incredulously at the brown haired Spirit that had entered his room then back to Riku, “You attacked my brother?”  
The brown haired Silhouette, Leon spoke coldly.   
“He crossed the barrier, he is not a human in my eyes anymore, he had been branded by the darkness of those monsters, and I will kill him next time.”   
Sora frowned, “Riku!” he aimed to get some help from the Spirit

He didn’t get an answer direct from the silver haired boy, instead Riku said to Leon. “You have to watch your back Leon, Axel will be driven by anger and revenge, he had bonded with Roxas, he has regained emotions, he has a heart to share now.”

Sora frowned and saw Kairi, Naminé and Zack come in followed by a boy with spiky blonde hair, Tidus and a short girl with jet hair, Yuffie.  
The Spirits rallied together and Riku sighed, “Where is Yuna?”  
Sora was grim, “They won’t let him near me again will they?”

Naminé shook her head, “It’s up to him, ‘they’ will only turn him against you, Axel will corrupt him, he will be lost forever.”  
Sora paced along his room and saw another Spirit arrive; he looked around the whole Spirit filled room. They were all deathly pale, transparent and all had the deep black rings around their eyes, and they all looked so incredibly sad.

Sora bit his lip, “He’s scared of them, maybe, if I get him to listen I can-” Sora stopped immediately when there was a large crash in the attic followed an angry roar. The whole roof shook and it was followed by another loud groan.   
Riku looked to Kairi then back to Sora, “Xemnas has awoken, the house has finally found their next victims.”


	9. Hurt

“Stop being childish, we need to get out and go shopping.” Aerith stood at the door with her hands on her hips.   
Roxas sat up against his pillows, “I don’t want to go,” he whined and Aerith said in her no nonsense voice, “Roxas, now! Listen to what I say, if you stay, you will be here with your Father.”

Roxas cringed, curling his toes into the quilt and, from beside the bed, Axel whispered, “Us, to be more exact,” he sniggered and Aerith left the doorway.   
“If you aren’t showered and ready by the time I come back, you will be in trouble Roxas Strife” she called back.

Roxas heard Sora talk to Aerith and then looked at Axel coldly, “You are not coming into the bathroom with me, I don’t care if it hurts like hell. You can stand outside for all I care.”  
Axel smirked, “Oh I think it’s a little early for that, don’t worry Roxas, you will warm up to the idea.” 

Roxas pulled a face, “No, I never will, leave me alone you freak.” He got up off the bed unfolding his legs and stomped to his wardrobe to get out a fresh pair of clean clothes, all the while keeping a solid glare on a smirking Axel, lounging on his bed.   
Roxas backed out of his room, still staring at Axel all the way, until he was out of the bedroom. 

In the hallway Roxas backed up into Demyx, he immediately panicked and Demyx laughed, “Whoa there Roxas, paranoia isn’t good for you, quickly now, Axel loves shopping.”

Roxas glared at the young Silhouette, “Wait, he isn’t coming.” Demyx looked puzzled, “B-but I thought we explained it to you? Axel can’t be apart from you, you will hurt yourself otherwise.”

Roxas clutched his clothes tighter, “He can’t leave the house, he-he needs-.”   
Demyx hushed him, smiling mischievously, “We can leave the house, we are only Immortal, we can walk in sunlight, we can go places.”

Roxas scowled backing down the wooden hallway, “Then why don’t you all leave the house?” he gestured out with his hand and Demyx’s face fell, “We can’t,” he admitted softly before he added, “Xemnas has hold of our hearts and souls, we can’t leave until he releases them, which would be never.”

Roxas reached the bathroom door leaning his back against it, fumbling for the door handle and opening it. Demyx looked forlornly into the white tiled room and said in a low voice, “You better have your fun now Roxas, it will be short-lived.” 

Roxas backed into the bathroom and clicked the door shut. Immediately there was a dull ache in his scar and he clapped his hand over it hissing through his teeth.   
What the hell was happening?  
He forced himself to walk over to the shower and turn the handles and watched the water rush down in a steady stream. He shook his head ruffling up his golden spikes and tried not to let his problems hinder him for the moment.

Axel leant outside the bathroom door watching the scene down the hallway. He folded his arms across his chest and let a sullen look decorate his face. His eyes sparked when a blonde haired woman slinked past him, her equally green eyes narrowed.  
“Is this true Axel?” she asked her voice dipping two octaves, she stood straight and the top of her head brushed Axel’s chin. 

He turned his head and snapped, “Why would it concern you for Larxene?”  
The blonde sniffed and bored her eyes into Axel’s, “The Spirits will see us as weak, we are the dominant side in this house Axel, then you turn around and mark a human as yours?”   
She stepped back and threw her hands up, “A human Axel, that’s pathetic, what makes you think that the others will accept that?”  
Axel got up from the wall and said casually, “He has already met Demyx, Zexion and Xigbar,” he shrugged. “He will meet Luxord, you, eventually Marluxia... when he gets out from that accursed garden-.” 

Axel was cut off by a snort from Larxene, “Oh good luck with that, it wouldn’t be long before he decides to befriend the Mother, you know how much he loves the garden.”  
Axel simply glared at her and she pursed her lips together in a thin line and Axel said simply, “Roxas is… different, he, well I mean, when I bit him I can feel emotions again.”  
Larxene looked up at him suspiciously and Axel said, “It’s still new to me, I still can’t figure out-,” he trailed off when the water in the bathroom stopped. 

“If he does anything to annoy me Axel, I will hurt him,” Larxene hissed. With that, she spun on her heels and walked down the hallway misting away into blackness before Axel could retort a word. 

He growled in his throat and spun around when the door opened abruptly and Roxas jumped back nearly having a heart attack when he saw Axel against the doorframe.   
Axel drunk in the sight of the blonde in front of him and Roxas simply scowled and tried to push past him.

Pushing Axel was like trying to push over a brick wall.  
Axel stared down at the mess of wet golden locks and tried not to laugh; Roxas stepped back and glared up at him with angry blue eyes. “Move,” he demanded. Axel smirked.   
“Not so scared anymore?” he asked amusedly.

Roxas squeezed through the small opening of the door and started to stomp down the hallway. Shame he was dressed, Axel thought forlornly. He strode down the hallway, taking slow deliberate steps, letting Roxas hurry ahead.   
The blonde went into his room and slammed the door shut; Axel stopped midway down the hall watching the Mother of Roxas come up the stairs with a puzzled frown on her face.

Since the earlier incident with Roxas’ panic attack, Zexion had since wiped her memory of the small incident. Though it was a dangerous magic, he seemed to have pulled it off and Aerith didn’t seem to remember what had happed earlier on that morning.

She didn’t announce her presence and instead walked to Roxas’ door and knocked slightly, she jumped lightly her green eyes going wide when Roxas shouted from within his room, “Piss off and leave me alone!”

Axel smirked to himself as the mother, Aerith, put her hands on her hips and demanded, “I beg your pardon Roxas Strife!”  
There was a silence before a scuffle of steps, the door opened, and Roxas emerged with a red face. “I’m sorry Mum; I thought you were somebody else.”   
His eyes locked with Axel’s, who simply smirked, walked the remainder of the hall, and walked into Roxas’ room.   
Aerith narrowed her eyes at her son and then said in a soft voice, “Are you ready to go?” Roxas simply nodded his head and Aerith stepped aside and let him walk past and towards the stairs.   
Axel sighed and followed the mother and Roxas glared at him as he saw him walking out.

He stomped down the stairs as Aerith called out, “Sora, hurry up, we are leaving.”  
The brunette opened his bedroom door pulling on his shoe and froze when he saw the threatening figure of Axel, standing right beside his mother.  
His eyes widened and Aerith said, frowning, “Are you sure you want to wear shoes when you have those burns on your feet?”   
Sora slipped the shoe on and mumbled, “I’m fine, the burns are going away, my feet feel better.”

His eyes remained on Axel and Roxas shouted from down the stairs, “Mum, I think Dad’s coming.”  
Aerith groaned and walked down the stairs with Axel in pursuit. Sora shook his head and flicked away the brown spikes hanging in his face. He was certain that his death was in the form of the red headed Silhouette named Axel.

Sora and Roxas raced towards the front door, Roxas faltered slightly cringing in pain as he wrenched the door open. The car was parked out in the front drive and Aerith shouted, “Boys! Be careful of my garden!”  
Sora hissed to Roxas when their parents were out of earshot, “Why are you bringing your new ‘toy’?”   
They wrenched open the back doors and Roxas snarled back, “I don’t want him coming you asshole, and he is not my ‘toy’!” 

Roxas scrambled over the chair and nearly yelped “Hurry up, shut the god damned door.” Sora slammed the door shut and Axel stood at the top of the stairs with Aerith and Cloud. Aerith still refused to talk to her husband, silence didn’t suit her though.  
Axel disappeared in a haze of black smoke and Sora whispered, “Where the fuck did he go?”

Roxas gazed around the car, and then he yelped and jumped from his seat on the left hand side of the car. Axel lounged there, feet up on the headrest.   
“You underestimate me Roxas, it hurts my feelings,” he said with mock hurt expression.  
Roxas groaned in his throat then jumped into the incredibly uncomfortable middle seat and fastened his seatbelt as Aerith and Cloud went in and sat down.

Aerith turned around and frowned slightly at Roxas, “What are you sitting there for?”  
She saw his usual spot empty: Roxas and Sora saw Axel sitting there smirking.  
The blonde strained to sit right next to brother, there was no way he wanted to be near the red headed bastard. 

Cloud inserted the key to get the car started when there was a loud bang from the front bonnet. Aerith yelped and Cloud swore, “Fucking stupid ENGINE!” he shouted.  
Roxas yelped out again leaping right into Sora’s side, the bang wasn’t from the engine. The brothers saw another Silhouette standing on the bonnet of the car, vivid blue hair and a red X across his face.

His bright yellow eyes stared right down at Roxas, a scowl so evil baring razor sharp teeth and a snarl rumbling, like a thunderstorm.  
Axel hissed and his eyes went wide, “Saix,” he exclaimed. Roxas glanced at Axel who looked angry and worried. He looked at Roxas and whispered, “Roxas.”  
The blonde hid his face and Sora breathed out, “He’s the one I saw.”

Axel was sitting up now and his teeth were bared and his eyes glowing menacingly. The blue haired Silhouette backed off the bonnet still staring at the family inside and then whispered, “You can’t hide and protect everybody forever Axel.”

Though it was whispered Roxas and Sora could hear it perfectly and they jumped again when the car suddenly roared to life as Cloud revved the engine.  
Aerith clicked her tongue. “You don’t have to do that, you will wreck the car.”  
Cloud murmured something incoherently and Aerith snapped, “Pardon?” 

Cloud looked away as he pulled out and Aerith scoffed, “Don’t even have the guts to tell me what you said? Completely gutless.”  
She folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window.  
Roxas spun around to look out the back window and saw the Saix Silhouette standing in the drive, looking evil as ever. He watched them until the car turned down the driveway and out the entrance gates.

Roxas turned back around and Sora sighed, “Jeez.”  
Roxas looked back to a grim looking Axel, suddenly feeling embarrassed. He belonged in the house, that’s where he should really stay. But he was in a car; Roxas could bet his entire allowance money that Axel didn’t even know what a car was.  
He looked back out towards the windscreen of the car and out of his peripheral vision saw Sora outwardly staring at Axel.   
He frowned, he didn’t like that.

He jerked his elbow into Sora’s side and the brunette hissed in pain and glared at him. “Don’t stare”, Roxas rasped and Sora frowned. “Don’t do it again you little jerk off.”  
Aerith turned her head at the squabbling brothers and said in a stern voice, “Boys, please, don’t fight.”  
Roxas scowled at his brother and Sora sneered back mouthing the words, ‘defending your toy…?’  
Something inside Roxas snapped and he unintentionally said more loudly than anticipated, “Shut your fucking mouth Sora.”  
Aerith sighed and Axel jerked his head to stare at Sora, his green eyes narrowing dangerously.

Aerith turned her head, “You forgot your iPod, didn’t you Roxas?”  
Roxas slumped down and pouted, “Yes!”  
Cloud growled something and Sora snarked, “Being the little whiner he is, can’t stand being in the social life.”  
Roxas felt his face grow hot and he strained against the seat belt to hit his brother. But Sora shouted out in pain before Roxas could lay into him. Three large blood welts appeared on Sora’s sleeve. Like somebody had dragged three long claws down his flesh. Roxas looked back to Axel who had faint lines of black running down his face and his eyes going a filmy white. 

Cloud braked the car, making everybody jerk forward against their belts. He spun around and demanded in a loud voice, “Roxas, move away from your brother, sit on the other side.”  
Aerith had turned around as well and Roxas cast a fearful glance to a pissed off Axel. “B-but-” he began to protest and Aerith said sternly, “Roxas, now!”  
Roxas shifted uneasily, if he has to move next to the window where Axel was.  
Oh god, he couldn’t think about it… He would have to sit in Axel’s lap.  
He clenched his eyes shut and groaned roughly when both his parents shouted, “Roxas, MOVE!”

The blonde brother yanked his belt off, glared at his father and mother, and said in a rough voice, “You will kill me, you know that?”  
Aerith looked puzzled and Cloud frowned, “You can bet on that, Kid.” He looked back out to the forest and pulled out and Roxas hesitantly moved across the seat and right into the warm lap of Axel.

He cringed, clicked in the seatbelt and finally satisfied Aerith turned back to the front.   
Roxas heard Axel whisper in his ear, “You will come to enjoy it, Roxas.” He could hear the smirk in Axel’s voice and harrumphed folding his arms against his chest.  
Sora scowled in their direction and grasped his arm, trying to hide the blood on his sleeve so Aerith wouldn’t flip the lid. He could see the anger dissipate from the Silhouettes face as Roxas settled down, his eyes were full of caring and Sora found himself doubting whether Axel could actually be so dangerous.   
Sora knew right away just by looking at Axel around Roxas that the red head was infatuated and that might be his downfall.

*****

Roxas had not gotten out of the car so fast before, he scrambled out to the footpath and slammed the door shut. Axel simply manifested next to him smirking, but that quickly dropped when the Silhouette looked around Twilight Town and a look of sadness was seen on the incredibly white face.

Roxas felt a twinge of pity and whispered, “What’s the matter with you?”  
Axel looked back down at him, “I haven’t been out in this particular town in a hundred and ten years; it was all small buildings and the occasional house, our transports were carriages drawn by horses.”

He looked around again and Roxas stepped further onto the footpath “Why didn’t you ever come down, like in the past years?”  
Axel sighed, kicked a rock onto the road, and watched a car come past. “Well, I don’t want to make you nervous or awkward or anything, but before I bonded you to myself, our default bond is the house.”  
He shrugged his shoulders, “and if we are bonded to the house, we can’t leave.”   
Roxas frowned and hesitantly looked at the red head Silhouette; “S-so now that we are… um...” he trailed off.   
Axel nodded slowly, “I have to go anywhere you go, you are certainly aware of the pain that occurs when we are apart.”  
Roxas snorted, “Unfortunately.”

Roxas waited for his parents and the family began to walk down the street. Axel strolled a little behind and looked into every shop window with a look of fascination and longing. Sora saw Roxas watching and snorted, he shouldn’t like the Silhouettes.  
They are evil, damned and they deserved any damnation they damn well got. Plus more.  
Cloud broke away from his family muttering something about his new work and he walked away with Aerith scoffing that she would rather him away from her.  
She ushered her children into the uniform store and Roxas groaned when he set eyes on the powder blue shirts and the grey shorts, the customary school uniform of Twilight View Secondary School. 

Sora sighed when Aerith picked out the white shirt of the seniors and muttered something about the school blazer.  
Roxas looked around grumpily and he saw Axel walking through the racks of uniforms, “Oh don’t worry,” he purred sarcastically, “I’m sure you will look absolutely dashing, Roxas.”   
He scowled and Axel chuckled, “Alright, I see it, you dislike school, you don’t have to chew anybody’s head off.” The red head continued to wander through the never-ending aisles of school uniforms and Roxas picked through the clothes.  
He-hated-school.

He stopped, suddenly gritting his teeth when a sharp pain burned his scar and he heard Axel apologise, “I’m not used to it yet I suppose.”  
Axel came back over and Roxas murmured, “Whatever you do, stay a good distance away from me.”  
He moved away behind a rack of uniforms and Axel simply looked over it and smirked at Roxas. “You’re being incredibly childish, Roxas; you have to come to terms that I will never leave you.”

Roxas looked up at the grinning face that he found so terrifying; Axel’s eyes glittered in the sunlight. The red head was amused.   
He frowned and retorted softly, “Yeah and thanks to you, I have lost any new chance of making friends, I will never get into a relationship with anybody, you don’t think of the consequences do you?”

Axel stepped back and Roxas heard his voice between the wall of blue shirts, “A relationship with anybody? But Roxas-”  
Roxas didn’t let him finish. “I will never be in a relationship with you, you are a demon who has been terrifying my family, you have hurt my brother on more than one occasion and you reckon you are on top of the world, in truth, you have haunted the same house for a hundred and ten years, you’re not even alive.”

Axel was silent for a moment then he said in a low voice, “That actually hurt!”   
There was a scuffle and Roxas saw the sunlight intensify before dimming again. He frowned and pulled the coat hangers aside, “Axel!” he exclaimed kicking himself, he didn’t see Axel anywhere and he sighed.

He walked back around the shirts and saw Sora snickering. “That was a good call Roxas; hit him in his non-existent heart.”   
Roxas frowned, “Shut the fuck up.” He kicked over the bucket at the desk and it fell with a clatter, Sora fixed his white shirt and said, “Its better that you end it now, he is a demon after all.”  
Roxas kept his gaze on the floor and Sora asked in a cautious voice, “Are you hurting Roxas?” he shook his head in response and touched his scar tentatively. “There’s nothing.” He looked up when Aerith came back over with a blue shirt and held it up to Roxas.  
“Go put that on,” she said.  
Roxas sighed and let his hands drop to his sides and then he looked to the side when he heard a voice that said, “Oh my gosh, it’s you guys.”   
Roxas saw the Waitress from the café come in with her Mother. She went right to Sora and a smile was on her face, making her eyes gleam. “White shirt? You are a senior with me?”  
Sora smiled and said, “Hello, I remember you.” 

A real smooth move, he didn’t even remember her name.  
The girl smiled, “Olette, it’s nice to see you and your family again.” She spotted a pouting Roxas and smiled and Roxas simply turned around and went to the fitting rooms to try on his new school shirt.

He cursed when the shirt fit him perfectly, Aerith knew him like the back of her hand. He called out for her and she opened the curtain and looked him down. She bit her lip and murmured, “It’s a little long, but that’s alright, it fits you ok.”  
She brushed the creases out, looked at him again, and said, “Ok you need shorts and then you are done.”

Roxas flung the curtain closed again and stripped the shirt off when he heard the girl Olette giggle and ask, “are you doing anything Friday night?”   
Roxas paused, he couldn’t believe his ears. Sora had already been asked out by a girl, he had friends already. He was definitely going to struggle. He put on his shirt again, stepped out, and threw the shirt at his Mother.

Aerith shook her head feeling the pain for her son, for a long time Roxas had struggled with friends and relationships. Now his own father had shunned him. She doubted that Roxas would cooperate for much longer and she quickly chose out a pair of shorts and handed them to him. If they didn’t fit, she could fix them.

Roxas was a pain with clothes, he was in between sizes and buying for him was a pain unless he was there to try the clothes on. She looked to Sora who asked, “So am I allowed Mum?” Aerith heaved in a shuddering breath and then nodded, “Yes, t-that’s fine.”

Roxas emerged and retorted that the pants were too big, they were size 8 and Aerith nodded holding back a gush of tears, “Alright honey, I will fix them for you.”  
Roxas stood there awkwardly and then muttered averting his eyes from the scene of Sora and Olette. “Um, c-can I go now, I-I-” he trailed off scuffing his feet on the carpet and Aerith nodded.

“Yes Roxas, go on, I will meet you later.” she said with a pitying expression on her face.   
Roxas didn’t wait for a second answer and escaped the uniform as fast as he could. The pain of tears prickled his eyes and he hurried down the street looking for somewhere to go.

Axel still had not appeared and Roxas decided that he would apologise to the Silhouette; Axel was just trying to be his friend. He put his hands in his pockets and put his head down; he walked along the small street and into the plaza where the shops were.   
He saw the mills of people along the strip and saw mostly kids buying their school supplies for tomorrow. 

He decided he would walk home, Aerith just made the hassle of driving all the way into town when she could walk ten minutes through the forest.  
He rummaged his hands through his pockets and found his phone and his wallet. That would do him, it would have been better if he had remembered to bring his iPod.  
The Plaza was full of kids and Roxas wandered around finding excuses to buy things. He did it all the time, bought things for no reason. 

He was alone for a good time and sitting down in a seat, dropping his shopping bags after a while. He looked around to the kids laughing in their group of friends and he huddled in the corner of the plaza, alone as per usual.

He stared around for a while, deciding what to do - he had done his shopping and he didn’t really want to walk home when he knew his family was still in town.  
He debated against doing anything, but then he decided to go and get an ice cream at the stall down at the end of the plaza. He hoisted up his shopping bags and shuffled down to the other end until he reached the stall and looked up at the menu.

It was the usual flavours, Vanilla or that rainbow ice cream that every kid loved, even though it was just coloured vanilla ice cream anyway.  
There was chocolate or caramel, all boring.

With a lopsided grimace on his face, Roxas stepped forward and waited until another young girl approached him with a smile on her face.   
“What can I get you?” she asked cheerfully.   
Roxas pointed to the glass, “Just vanilla please” he mumbled. The girl nodded and started to prepare his ice cream. She scooped it into the cone and handed it over the counter as Roxas handed her the money.  
“Have a nice day,” she chirped merrily.

Satisfied, he wandered down the plaza and out of the bustling area. He walked through the station and into the Sandlot. As he walked off in his own world, he didn’t realise three large figures loom above him.  
He stopped when he spotted the shadows and he looked up to see two guys and a girl staring at him. He smiled somewhat awkwardly, “H-hello.”

The tallest one, the leader with blonde hair sneered at him, “Who are you to try and invade on my domicile, huh? You little punk!”  
Roxas dropped his hand a little and stammered nervously, “I’m just walking through; I don’t want to cause any trouble.”  
The tall buff guy with the orange shirt snorted and said in a deep voice, “What are you gunna do Seifer?”

The blonde, Seifer, sneered and looked back to Roxas who took a step back feeling nervous and a little frightened. “Well, this new little jackass isn’t aware of the rules that govern Twilight Town.” He stood right over a very intimidated Roxas and punched his fist into his palm, “and he has caused enough trouble for me to dislike him already, just by being in my sight.”  
“Now hang on a moment,” Roxas declared his voice rising, “I haven’t done anything wrong; I’m just walking through so I can get home.” He stared at three defiantly and instantly cursed himself for his stupid courage and defiance.   
Seifer raised a brow and then smirked, “I don’t like your attitude.”  
He looked to his friends, “Rai, Fuu?”

Roxas took a step back, he turned to attempt to run but the two bullies instantly held him back, and Seifer smacked the remainder of his ice cream into his face.  
The ice cream fell onto the ground and Roxas’ bags were torn away from him as he was heaved off the ground.

He looked fearfully at the figure that loomed above him and Seifer clenched his fist and smacked it, right into Roxas’ gut.  
Instantly the breath was knocked out of him and Seifer hit him two more times before smacking his fist into Roxas’ face.

His friends dropped him to the cement and the girl snickered, “Look what the little dweeb was buying, being a good little boy and tottering off to school.”  
She received the cruel laughter as she pulled everything out of the bags and threw them onto the ground mocking Roxas.  
Seifer laughed again, gestured his buff friend to heave Roxas up again, and as Roxas flailed, his phone and his wallet fell out onto the ground catching the attention of the bullies.

Rai dropped Roxas again as Seifer lost interest and scooped up the phone his eyes glowing in a cruel way. Roxas staggered to two feet and pleaded, “Give them back, I need them.”  
Seifer held the phone up out of Roxas’ reach and mocked him, “I need them.” He held it up higher and yelled, “What are ya going to do about it? Huh, Shortie?” Roxas felt the blood trickling down his face and he wiped it away before attempting to get the phone back. 

Seifer held his wallet in the other hand and Roxas felt the defeat rise in him. Terrorized by the Twilight Town bullies. Already.  
His face was sticky from the ice cream and the blood and Roxas sighed, “you like to pick on those smaller than you, huh?” he tried valiantly to stop the incoming build of tears.   
Seifer laughed, “It’s fun because I’m so much better than you. You can’t do anything about it.”

He gestured lazily to his friends, “I’m tired now, throw the little ass in the forest, he can make his own way back to his house.”  
Roxas was seized again and he cried out struggling against the stone grips of the boy and the girl. His efforts were futile and soon he found himself in the darkness of the forest and thrown down into a small creek.

Before he could get up out of the water and rub the grit from his eyes Seifer and his friends had disappeared, all of Roxas belongings gone with them.  
The water was cold and Roxas crawled out of the dingy creek and instantly began to shiver. It was truly dark in the forest and Roxas didn’t know exactly what part he was in, he had been too busy trying to fight than to take in the scenery around him and now he was hopelessly lost.

The tears came now and Roxas fell to his knees and just thought to himself, ‘why me’?  
He lifted his head as a flutter in the tree canopy rustled the branches and he looked at the dappled sunlight before he heard a startled voice, “What are you doing so far away and looking like that?”

Roxas jumped a mile when he saw a man standing in the shadows holding a small bucket. He had large blue eyes and vivid pink hair, he looked concerned as he disappeared and reappeared next to Roxas.  
He managed to sputter out, “Y-you’re a Silhouette?” The man nodded and smiled gently, “I’m Marluxia..., I have seen you around, what on earth happened?”   
Roxas was too angry to remember that he was supposed to fear the Silhouettes and instead told the pink haired Silhouette all of what happened earlier.

Then he asked, “Why are you out here?”  
Marluxia smiled and held out the bucket, “I’m collecting flower seeds so your mother and I can grow spectacular masterpieces in the garden, its coming along so beautifully. I was just surprised to see you out here so deep in the forest.”

He gestured to Roxas to follow him and said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry to hear what happened, Seifer and his friends always throw kids out here, they aren’t nice at all, I’m actually surprised that Axel didn’t come and save you.”

Roxas was surprised for a moment, he had forgotten Axel in all of the hubbub and then felt angry, why hadn’t Axel come and saved him?  
He said in a stern voice, “He left, I don’t know where he went, my scar isn’t hurting so I hoped he went off and died.” 

Marluxia shook his head his large blue eyes going sad, “You underestimate Axel, I’m sure there is a good reason for him disappearing, I know for a fact that Axel gets hurt by getting insulted by those close to him, he has suffered for such a long time, I really do hope you can make him better.”

Roxas bit his lip feeling guilty again and he followed behind the Silhouette. They eventually made it to the front entrance of Roxas’ house and walked up the driveway. They had been deep in the forest, and Roxas was grateful that the Silhouette had been kind enough to help him home.  
Marluxia walked up the steps and opened the front door that eerily creaked as it did so and allowed Roxas to walk in first. Marluxia shut the door behind them and there was a rush of air when the Silhouette Demyx bombarded Roxas.  
The young boys eyes were large and sad as he saw the sunken, wet, battered form of his friend, “What happened?” he demanded and Marluxia recited softly of what happened to Roxas.

The blonde simply pulled away, moped up to his room, and shut the door. The house was totally silent, there was the occasional creak and the quick scuttle of footsteps but it was nothing that Roxas had heard before.   
He looked up however when the door opened and he saw Demyx and Zexion walk in. Demyx came onto the bed beside Roxas and grabbed his hand, “Don’t worry Roxas, it will be ok.”

Roxas pouted and spoke, trying to keep the tears out of his voice, he would cry if he continued to speak.  
“How would you know Demyx, I was beat up trying to walk home, they stole all my things that I bought for school, they stole my phone and my wallet and threw me in the creek, God knows where in the forest. Marluxia found me,” he trailed off then said, “I should have thanked him.”

Demyx simply stared at him and said, “You were lucky, Marly always goes out into the forest, if he didn’t find you, it scares me to think who else would have.” He shivered.  
Roxas whispered, unintentionally curling up into the side of Demyx, “I don’t know where Axel went Demyx, I said some pretty bad things and now I feel like a complete jerk.”  
Demyx ran his fingers through the tussle of blonde locks, “I don’t think you know the story behind Axel, do you?”

Roxas shook his head, his fingers gripping the black fabric of Demyx’s cloak and the boy sighed, “Axel died in 1900, and he became a Silhouette. Xemnas was ecstatic because he found out that Axel could travel to the ‘In Between’. It’s a place where you can regain lost power or bring back the lost spirits of the dead, Axel describes it as being the most beautiful place you can ever go to, I can’t go there though, only some people can.”

He sighed again, “Axel was a Silhouette for ten years and Xemnas tried to wrestle Axel’s will into his hands and take him to the In Between. He began to murder more and more people that Axel was friends with, but that didn’t stop him.”  
Roxas heard Zexion speak then.

“Then in 1910, the last of the murders, Axel fought savagely with the Silhouette named Saix. He and Xemnas had intended to kill a young girl and her sister who was dying of tuberculosis. Axel tried to protect the girl and as a result he lost his heart in a brutal attack wrought down by Xemnas.” 

Roxas looked up to peek at Zexion who had sat down on the edge of his bed beside Demyx, he flicked away some stray indigo locks and he continued. “Axel has been an emotionless void for nearly a hundred years, he was in complete ruin, he couldn’t feel any emotions, he was cold and harsh and a very withdrawn Silhouette, Demyx and I befriended him after about fifty or so years back but no one had been able to bring him out of that hole, except you Roxas.”

The guilt burnt like molten magma in Roxas’ chest and more tears pricked his eyes.   
Zexion nodded at the tears, “Axel wanted to keep you safe because he cared about you, even without a heart, bonding himself to you made him regain emotions and the way he spoke about you...”

Demyx nodded, “I had not seen him so happy before, and did you know? I didn’t know that his eyes were actually green, they had always been holes.”  
Roxas buried his face in Demyx’s side and said in a muffled voice, “Oh God, I don’t think about anybody except myself. Demyx, I want to say sorry - where is he?”

He didn’t get the answer he wanted when Demyx just shrugged and Zexion said, “I think you might have to wait on that Roxas, you might have hurt him pretty deep, especially when he thought you were the one to save him.”


	10. The Truth and the Guilt can Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a dream sequence... Initially, this was going to be all in Italics. But since I don't want to sit here and fiddle with HTML Tags its just going to be in normal font :P
> 
> Enjoy

Roxas stared up at the large Entrance Gates that blocked the way up to the Mansion. He stared through the wrought iron bars and saw the large driveway creeping up the hill.  
Was he having a dream about his home?

Roxas put his hands up, his fingers wrapping around the cold steel. He couldn’t help but feel that this seemed…off. Something seemed different about it.  
He pushed against the Gates and they swung in silently. Roxas walked up the drive, the sounds of his feet crunching up the gravel.

Everything else around him was dead silent. The trees were stiff and silent, there were no breeze or chitter of animals. A stark contrast of grey surrounded him, shadows flickering around him.

Roxas walked up the driveway; he looked around at the scenery around him. He realized there were lines and lines of trees lining the drive. There were stones lined up the dirt drive and there were recent signs of horse activity, hoof-prints sunk into the soft earth. 

Roxas paused at the end of the drive where it elongated and rounded off in a circle. He recognized that as the current day carport.   
However, the House was…not his House.

He recognized his House in the midst of it. The very center of the building, but what got him was that there were two wings joining onto the main building. An East and West Wind, lined with tiny windows added with iron bars decorating the eerie building.

When was this? What…Year was this?

Roxas jumped violently when through the silence, he heard a loud, piercing scream of pain echo throughout the area.  
Through one of the tiny barred windows, Roxas saw a shadow appear before two arms thrust through the bars and he saw a face appear. Two dark eyes stared blankly at him before his voice screamed out again “HELP ME!”

Roxas skittered back several steps, feeling the fright hammer through his chest. This dream was quickly turning into a nightmare. He had to wake up.  
The crazed face of the man suddenly disappeared, but his voice screamed out again “HE’S GOING TO KILL ME!”

Was this the Twilight Hill Psychiatric Hospital?  
Roxas felt a shiver run up his spine; he looked around the grey foliage before he pinched the flesh on his arm.  
Nothing happened.

He had the urge just to turn around and walk back down that driveway. However, he found his feet unwilling to do what he wanted to. He began to walk towards the building, the fear and the uncertainty building steadily in his chest. His bare feet scuffed against the gravel as his mind fought with his body.

The front garden was completely bare; flowers had long lived and died. The garden bed full of dirt.  
The Fountain was covered in algae, small growths growing off the angel on the top. The water had been choked with weeds and the water had been slowed to a slow trickle. The terrace was void, the Gazebo no-where in sight. 

Roxas walked up the front stairs and through the front doors, wrought with bars as well, other than that, they hadn’t changed. He didn’t open it; he simply drifted through the wood of the door and looked around the cavernous entrance hall.

A large Reception Area greeted him. A curved horseshoe shaped desk sat in the middle.   
Two women were writing papers, talking and muttering to each other. 

A large door to his left was shut off with locks and looking through the small glass window in the center of the door, Roxas saw a long corridor shut off, glowing with an eerie blue light. It was not the area that he knew to be the kitchen, the stairs were still in the corner leading upstairs, they hadn’t changed.

Off to the right was closed off with a solid wall with a wooden door closed off with numerous locks.

Roxas turned and saw the bustle of nurses come down the stairs, one was laughing.  
“Did you hear about that patient? Screaming out the way he did, how sad. But I cannot help but laugh.”  
“You wouldn’t want to work with the one I have to help” one mumbled “Nothing seems to work on him.”  
Roxas frowned; did they always openly bag out their patients?

Little did he know, the nightmare was only just beginning.

*****

Roxas followed the Nurses to the Reception Desk, they picked up papers and went their own and went their separate ways.  
Roxas followed one Lady who went to the door on the right; she unlocked it and walked down the hallway.   
There were lines of white doors with little signs with names and numbers on the front. From behind the doors, came moaning, crying, and the occasional ear-splitting scream. The nurses and Doctors must have been deaf, to ignore these cries of help. 

They past the mess hall where people were seated, Roxas floating along like an apparition after the nurse. People walked through him, people who were muttering incoherently and some who were smacking their foreheads as they walked.   
Roxas had to remember that this had been a hospital that held the mentally insane and unstable.

The nurse strode to the end of the hall and up a flight of stairs, she turned left and down past a floor of dormitories for those who weren’t considered crazy. Then she walked up another set of stairs and to a small floor consisted of two rooms.

Roxas floated after her, unhindered when she shut the door in front of him. He floated through, his nose crinkling in horror and disgust when he saw a patient laid out on a steel bed. Four nurses around him.  
The one he had followed put her papers down and took up a spot on the legs under direction from the Doctor standing at the patients head.

They opened the patient’s mouth, stuck a cylindrical object into his mouth, and gelled his temples with a jelly-like substance. Then they wrapped a band around his head with numerous wires dangling from it.  
“Electroconvulsive Therapy, Session One” the Doctor said, reaching out to a large machine connected to the wall.

He flicked the switch and Roxas watched with horror, as the patient spasmd. His legs and arms went stiff before his whole body went into a violent seizure. The Nurses struggled to hold him down as he thrashed on the bed.  
They were sending electric convulsions right to his brain without anesthetic or any type of pain relief. 

The patient eyes rolled in his head and Roxas saw his whole body trembling and spasming under the severe shock he was receiving.  
Roxas stumbled back in horror, he fell back through the wall and he made a dash back towards the stairs. He needed to go back to where it was safe; he didn’t want to be here. 

He ran through the halls and into the Reception Area. His one intention burned clearly on his mind, he was going to get out of that building.  
But as he ran towards the doors, he flung his arms out and was ready to throw himself at them so they would open.

But to Roxas’ horror, as he leapt to the door, with fear clogging his throat. He simply passed right through the doors and he found himself in a long white corridor. His mind flickered before he realized that this must have been the main corridor where in the present, his family’s bedrooms would be.

But the Corridor seemed longer and more eerie.  
Hesitating once, Roxas strode forward and crept past the first room that would be Sora’s room in the present.  
This time, it clearly looked like a room that belonged in a Mental Asylum. The wallpaper was a sickly shade of pale green and the fluoro light flickered ominously. A steel bound bed and a bedside table were the only pieces of furniture in the whole room.

Much like downstairs, at the end of the corridor, it branched off either to the left or right. Rooms decorating the whole length of it. It was a stark white, no other colour visible in the cold blue lights.

At the end of the corridor, there were a few steps before it reached a large door with the large golden plate that read XEMNAS.  
This was the original Silhouette that the others had feared.

The blonde stopped in the hall and the door swung open to reveal a man with long silver hair and piercing amber eyes. He looked forward and Roxas saw the glowing white pupils flash once as he strode by.

He looked down to some papers he held in his hand and walked forward. Roxas nearly died of fright when he thought that Xemnas was walking towards him.   
But the man stopped in front of the door that Roxas was in front of. He instantly recognised it as his room, wait, it was his room in the future.  
This was Axel’s room.

Roxas went forward in front of Xemnas and peeked in. He saw Axel pacing his room, the large window was open and Roxas saw the adjoining east wing. The balcony didn’t exist; there were bars on this window as well.

Axel looked up at Xemnas, his face falling.  
He seemed pale and dark rings shadowed his eyes. He was still a human.   
He looked incredibly ill and fragile, he trembled like a leaf and his vivid red hair was dull, frizzy and limp.

He stopped dead in his tracks with his eyes dark. Xemnas looked up from the papers and said in a smooth, dark, monotonous voice, “Axel, how are you feeling?”  
Axel replied in a shaky and raspy voice, “You know I’m not getting any better, the medications you claim that will help will make it worse.”

Xemnas frowned heavily, contorting his entire face, but only for an instant. It quickly diminished and he said in a deathly voice,   
“You know that you will suffer and die Axel.”

Axel turned his back on Xemnas and said dismissively “Nobody would care anyway, I’m insignificant in what will come.”  
Roxas found himself almost gravitating towards the failing, human Axel and felt all his feelings of guilt return to him. He really hurt Axel.  
He brushed the coursed rugged skin of his ravaged bite mark and then found himself reaching for Axel’s hand. 

It ghosted right through his and Roxas saw Xemnas’ eyes flicker briefly in his direction and felt fear rip through him. He couldn’t see him could he?   
He jerked his hand away and took a step back just as Axel snarled at Xemnas, “Just leave me be, or are you going to kill me as well?”

Xemnas clenched the papers he had in his hand crumpling them and Axel turned away from him and went to walk back out to the balcony. Roxas went to follow and there was a low growl that came from Xemnas’ mouth, “Don’t you dare turn your back on me Axel!”  
Axel snorted and replied in a smartass voice, “Oh watch me Xemnas.”  
Roxas paused at the door and nearly cried out in horror as Xemnas seemed to almost glide to Axel, he moved that fast and he wrenched the red head back around and spoke in a dead voice, emotionless now.  
“You’re coming with me Axel.”

Axel struggled and Roxas found himself yelling uselessly, “Let him go, let him go!” He raced forward and went to hit Xemnas, ghost or dream or not. Axel was going to be killed and Roxas just reacted on instinct, not even thinking on what he was doing.  
Maybe the shock would wake him up.

He stopped abruptly when his fists came down hard on Xemnas’ arm and he connected with solid flesh. His hands didn’t ghost through them.  
Roxas jerked back staring at the malicious amber eyes of the silver haired Silhouette and then back to the sunken eyes of Axel who had ceased trying to fight.   
He was ill and there was not much he could do about it.

Xemnas continued to pull him out the door, not even realising that he had been hit in the slightest. But Roxas was terrified now, why was Xemnas solid in this dream?  
He stood there dumbfounded and watched the two go out of the door and down the hall. He blinked his eyes several times, then darted forward and skidded out into the hallway.   
Out in the hall, Roxas saw more people scuttle aside as Xemnas wrenched Axel down the hall, he opened the door to his office and threw Axel inside and said in a low venomous voice, “Keep him in there until I get back.”

Xemnas disappeared down the eastern hall and Roxas exclaimed out in shock when he heard voices behind him say roughly.  
“He’s gotten Axel now; I knew he would target him.”  
The blonde spun around and saw Zexion and the other Silhouette Xigbar come marching down the hall.

They were already dead, black spouted from their bodies and curled around the other unsuspecting patients watching the scene before them. Zexion passed right through Roxas and the two walked to the door and peered in.  
“Typical” Xigbar retorted pulling away.  
“Got his dog to watch him.”

Zexion placed his hand over his chin and said in a doleful voice, “Saix needs to go, without Saix, Xemnas wouldn’t have half of the power he has.”  
Xigbar nodded his one yellow eye gleaming. “Saix is his ticket to get to us, the mongrel can hunt anyone of us down, wrenches us back here and the imbecile Xemnas uses Saix’s dirty blood to contaminate us.”

He walked to the closest door and pushed it shut with a powerful crash. Roxas could feel the reverberations on the floor under his feet.  
Xigbar finished with a furious voice, “Turning us into the demons we are, abominations.”

Zexion dropped his hand and said in his monotonous voice, “Hush Xigbar, let’s leave before Xemnas or Saix comes out and pulls us apart.” The two Silhouettes turned heel, walked back down the hallway, right past a frozen Roxas again, and turned right into a wall, disappearing in a haze of black smoke.

Roxas gulped and then turned his attention back to the door. He didn’t want to particularly go into that office; firstly, it was Xemnas’ office.  
Secondly, Saix, the Silhouette that Roxas feared most was in there.

Thirdly, Axel was in there and Roxas fought with the surge of anger and guilt. He fought with the feeling to be near the red head.   
It was consuming him, it was probably worse than the burning scar. It was like a thick steel cord was drawing Roxas in, drawing him to Axel.

With each heavy step, Roxas found himself nearing closer and closer to the door. He walked through the door and froze immediately when he saw Saix hovering over Axel, teeth bared. Roxas looked back down to the black clad fingers or claws he should properly say were coated in blood.

Axel was groaning on the floor and there were five puncture wounds on the back of his shoulder. Blood ran down his back staining the clothes he wore and he choked and sputtered as Saix snarled above him.  
Roxas covered his mouth, thinking Saix would hear him if he made a noise. Fright bought tears to his eyes and he jumped when Saix looked up abruptly, his bright yellow eyes looking right through Roxas. 

He didn’t have the red X across his face yet, so he must receive that later on in the future. Roxas spun around when the door swung inward and he saw Xemnas stride in. He shut the door behind him and Saix let go of a bloody Axel and stood back with his head down. Hiding his hands behind his back.

Xemnas stared down at Saix and then barked at him to come closer.   
Saix refused to make eye contact with Xemnas but he shuffled closer. Xemnas reached out, grabbed Saix around the arm, and pulled him closer. He lifted up the sleeve of the black cloak and Roxas dropped his hand and quickly made his way to the human Axel’s side.

Axel still lied there on the ground, but he kept a critical eye on Xemnas and Saix. He didn’t have the view Roxas had though.  
Roxas bent his head down and whispered in Axel’s ear, “It will be ok Axel, don’t fight it; I will be here for you.”

Axel stirred on the floor groaning and shaking in the silent terror that had consumed him. Feeling the guilt and the fright that plagued him from the inside out, Roxas reached out and placed his hands either side of Axel’s face.  
When Axel jerked up, his eyes large with terror was when Roxas craned his head around and seen Xemnas brandish a long needle seemingly from nowhere.

He also saw the shadow that flickered across Saix’s face before the blue haired man held out his arm and pulled his black sleeve up. His pale skin was blotched with many dark and unhealthy colours; it almost seemed to ripple when Xemnas stepped towards him.

Xemnas plunged the needle deep into Saix’s arm and he drew out solid black blood. Saix flinched slightly but his face remained expressionless, he didn’t say anything. He never made eye contact with Xemnas.

Withdrawing the needle, Xemnas flicked it and then looked back to the figure of Axel. Roxas dropped closer and was almost hugging Axels head and Xemnas leant closer and plunged the needle right into Axel’s arm. 

Axel let out a strangled yell, he squirmed on the floor and tried to knock the needle out and Roxas groaned and glared up at the glowing face of Xemnas.   
Axel jerked violently and that was there Xemnas withdrew the needle and Roxas saw it was empty. He closed his eyes tightly and Axel cried out again his body simply sluicing right through Roxas’. 

There was another agonised yell and with shock, Roxas realised that he was being pulled away. Away from the office.  
He glanced around in shock and tried to fight against the force and the last thing he saw was Xemnas laughing over a pained Axel and Saix watching the scene avidly.  
Then everything went dark.

*****

The light had a silver tinge to it when Roxas came to and realized where he was.  
He was lying sprawled out on the floor in the corridor he had been in previously. Xemnas’ office sat at the end of the corridor and the door to Axel’s room was locked and had two wooden boards across it.  
Through the tiny window in between the doors, the moonlight came in giving the surroundings an almost ethereal feel.

Hauling himself up to his feet, Roxas swallowed his heart and made his careful way back towards Xemnas’ office. But before he stuck his face in the small glass in the middle of the door, his attention was drawn down the corridor of the East Wing.  
He froze in terror when he saw a figure sitting on a small wooden chair against the wall. In the silver light, blonde hair gleamed and the skin seemed to glow with opalescent light. A young girl was sitting on the chair humming away under her breath kicking her feet.

She wasn’t aware of Roxas’ presence; her gaze was fixated on the ground. Roxas deemed it safe to start creeping down the corridor to investigate what was happening. Again, he froze when a gust of warm air enveloped him. With a sharp intake of breath, Roxas saw the eerie and black, misty figure of Axel pass him.

“Axel”, he breathed and he hurried after the black clad cloak, Axel strode right to the end of the hallway in front of a door and Roxas saw the girl gasp and glance up.   
Her eyes were pure azure that could rival Roxas’ sapphire.

Axel placed a black gloved hand on the door; he paused briefly before his jade eyes locked on the young girl before him. “He is coming; you have to get out of this building.”   
The girl drew her legs up to her chest, her eyes wide with terror. Her voice was barely above a whisper.  
“L-Larxene” was all she muttered through her shock.

At the name, Axel hissed and bared his teeth at the door. Blackness poured out of the small glass window on the door and the figure of Saix manifested in front of Axel.  
Even though the red head had a good head of height above Saix, the blue haired man had an aura of savagery that outrivaled Axel’s.

“They’re innocent!” Axel shouted, “Why target a young woman dying of tuberculosis? You are still trying to target me by hurting innocents?”

Roxas fell against the wall hugging himself cursing slightly when Axel jumped forward and tackled Saix to the ground. The poor girl was terrified and she watched the fight before her, Roxas only felt sick. 

A black hole appeared after the snarls broke out. Xemnas arrived watching the two Silhouettes fighting. His eyes were mad. Roxas gaped; the silver haired man pulled both Saix and Axel up by his hands. 

He stood Saix up who instantly looked down and Roxas saw the blood trickling down the blue haired Silhouettes face. He looked up briefly and that confirmed Roxas’ thought.  
The red X was still incredibly raw.

Xemnas threw Axel clear across the hall and Roxas ran over to Axel and urged him, saying in his ear. “Come on Axel, don’t give up.”  
More spark appeared in the green eyes of Axel and he sprung to his feet as Xemnas loomed above the blonde haired girl who gazed up at him fearfully.

“Axel,” Roxas cried and Axel’s eyes flickered down before the flames erupted from his gloves and he hurled a large flame ball at the turned back of Xemnas.  
It hit him accurately and Xemnas let out a roar of pain. With the girl momentarily forgotten, Xemnas turned back to Axel with his mouth turned up into a savage snarl.  
“I have had enough of you.”

He held out his hand and clenched his fist, drawing Axel in like a magnet. Axel struggled against the invisible grip and Roxas staggered up, “No! Axel, go, get away.”   
It was if Axel could hear him and the air in the hallway shimmered gold. 

Xemnas snarled and yanked Axel closer to him. “No you don’t,” he rasped and out of his peripheral vision Roxas saw jet black spike morphing from his arm, protruding out from the sleeve that Xemnas wore.

Black liquid ran down the putrid claw and Roxas shouted out in horror as the older Silhouette plunged the claw right through Axel’s chest.  
Axel was impaled on the claw and a silent scream showed on his incredibly white face. His jade eyes seemed to melt out of his head and Xemnas pushed the body off his claw and flicked it of any blood before spitting down at Axel, “You will live in pain, Axel. That is your punishment. I don’t care how long I have to wait, I will get the person I need, and you won’t save them… Because you don’t have your heart to care!”  
Axel was bleeding badly and Roxas dropped to his knees, his hand went through Axel’s shoulder.

Axel disappeared in a burst of flames and Roxas shouted hysterically, “No, no, Axel, come back.”  
He didn’t hear Xemnas exclaim roughly to Saix, giving commands.   
He looked up however when the door banged open and Saix appeared holding the incredibly small and frail body of a blonde haired girl.  
Then it hit Roxas, these were the sisters that were the last to die.   
In 1910

Roxas heaved up to his feet and saw Saix brush past him with the older girl. Xemnas stayed behind.   
The young girl only gaped before her eyes narrowed. A piercing shriek escaped her lips and it was ear splitting even for Roxas. He covered his ears trying to stop the ringing in his ears.  
She got off the chair and tried to run away from Xemnas, he grabbed her arm and she fought against him. Her legs seemed to give way from underneath her; she fell to the floor with Xemnas still holding her arm.

Then without even picking her up, Xemnas simply dragged her small body across the floor behind him. The young girl passed out, but as they made their way past Roxas. The blonde was able to see that the girls eyes were still open. They were dull and lifeless and the blue was fading to black.

Xemnas paused briefly but and he stopped looking down at the floor beside him.  
Roxas felt the fear constrict in his chest and Xemnas leant down slightly his eyes piercing Roxas own terrified eyes.  
The blonde cringed back in fear, his sapphire eyes going wide as Xemnas snarled, “Don’t think you can hide from me, you won’t stay protected forever.”


	11. Separation and Acceptance

Roxas woke in cold sweat.

Consumed by panic, Roxas flailed his arms and legs. His legs were constricted by something long and Roxas let a panicked yell escape him.

“Roxas! It’s alright.”  
At the sudden voice, Roxas flung out his arms and jumped back, then whatever he was on gave way to nothingness and Roxas landed flat on his backside on the floor.  
The room blazed with a low, unnatural light and a bleary-eyed and panicked Roxas saw the familiar figures of Demyx and Zexion.

Demyx’s eyes were large and worried and Zexion stood behind him, his face cold and expressionless.   
“Are you alright?” Demyx asked pushing back the golden snarls of hair that was glued to Roxas’ forehead. His ocean eyes searched Roxas’ and Zexion said in his monotonous voice, “Who did you dream about that got you so upset?”

Roxas threw himself at Demyx and clung to him tightly and he sputtered, “H-he saw me, X-X-.”  
He couldn’t get the name out, Zexion dropped the serious façade, and his real feelings of worry came over as he whispered urgently, “Did Xemnas see you in your dream?”  
Demyx held Roxas soothingly and the blonde stuttered out, “I-I saw how Axel died, then when he lost his heart, Xemnas picked up a young girl and he looked right at me.” The fear intensified again and then he managed to whisper, “He said I was next.”

Demyx’s grip tightened around Roxas who began to feel a little more comforted before he said, “Has Axel come back yet?”  
He received negatives from both Silhouettes and he leant back into Demyx, “I want him to come back, so-so I can say-” 

Roxas pushed Demyx back, “That young girl! She had a sister named Larxene? She-She was dragged-…” Roxas scratched his head in frustration before untangling his legs from the knot sheets and struggling up.   
“I ha-have to see Sora.”

“Roxas no.” Zexion implied “You remember what happened. The Spirits will attack you, you can’t go into Sora’s room without suffering repercussions.”  
Demyx strode forward and held Roxas back “Come on Roxas, just go back to sleep, everything will be sorted out by morning.”  
Demyx set Roxas back down onto his bed and fixed the blankets over him. When Roxas made the move to get up again and start an initial fight, Demyx put his hand over Roxas forehead for a moment and Roxas fell limp. 

Roxas fell back into a troubled sleep and Demyx set him back down and tucked the blankets around him, “I don’t know whether or not to be scared Zexion,” he whispered looking at Zexion before averting his eyes back to a sleeping Roxas.

Zexion sighed and stood back up, he began to pace the room. “I cannot shake the feeling of foreboding Demyx; I think Axel may have made a mistake. With him trying to bond with Roxas, he is feeling the after effects of it. He is seeing parts of Axel’s memories. He has bonded to a part of Axel that Xemnas has! Xemnas is manipulating him from afar.”

Zexion sighed and pushed his long indigo fringe back, “Then, Axel has to protect Roxas from Xemnas and even the other Silhouettes.”

Demyx frowned and pouted, “The others aren’t that bad Zexion, why are you so convinced that we are all so evil?”  
Zexion glared down at Demyx perched on the bed and he said in a hard voice, “Look at us Demyx, we are nothing more than demons, cursed to live a second life.”

Demyx got up from the bed, “We were given a second chance Zexion, maybe it’s not what we wanted, but at least we aren’t mental patients anymore suffering from those accursed sicknesses.” 

Zexion didn’t like being back-chatted to, his voice rose getting the angry edge to it, “Life will always screw you over Demyx, it can give you chance after chance, but it will always screw you over -- get that through your thick skull. We are still in the bloody Mental Asylum still being terrorized by the bastard Xemnas. We have been watching scenes of the past being played out repeatedly. Now it’s set to happen again to this family and an innocent young boy that has been dragged into this!”

Demyx cast a quick look to Roxas making sure he would be settled in sleep and then got up to his feet standing a foot taller than Zexion, “You are such a pessimist, I don’t know why I wanted to be with you, you are always bringing everyone down, so what if we are Silhouettes? We still have feelings but no, it isn’t enough for Zexion.”

Zexion grew red in the face feeling his razor sharp teeth pierce his bottom lip; he glared coldly up at Demyx who had his arms folded across his chest. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that Demyx,” Zexion retorted feeling his hands twitch violently, he didn’t want to attack Demyx but the younger Silhouette was giving him no choice.

Demyx stared coldly down at Zexion; he always upset not only Demyx but the other Silhouettes as well, always bringing them down. He was preparing himself, Zexion could get violent and hell, if they fought in Axel’s room so close in the proximity of Roxas, the pyromaniac would lose the plot and refuse their friendship from there on in.  
Demyx then said sarcastically, “Oh, watch me Zexion.”

Suddenly Zexion lifted his hands and threw them forwards, darkness erupting from his hands. He hissed menacingly his eyes going pitch black with the white pupils.  
Demyx was enveloped by the darkness and with an eruption of dark blue light, the darkness dissipated immediately.

In Zexion’s hand was his large Lexicon. He held it open holding out his hands ready to chant out the Dark Magic inside. He stood poised and when the darkness was thrown away, Demyx stood there holding his Sitar, ready to attack. 

Zexion went forward again saying out a dark illusion chant, gold and black shot to Demyx who grabbed the strings of his instrument and a wall of water blocked the darkness and threw it back to Zexion.  
The Schemer disappeared into his illusions and Demyx summoned his water clones to flush Zexion out. He back across the room cautiously, not only looking for Zexion, but for Axel as well.

A burst of darkness hit Demyx in the back, making him cry out in pain. Instantly his teeth elongated and cut right through his lip, he snarled angrily spinning around seeing Zexion’s glowing white pupils.   
Zexion moved in again and in desperation and pain, Demyx swung his Sitar around in a burst of strength. It collided with the smaller Silhouette and Zexion dropped his book stumbling over his feet.

Demyx summoned a waterfall of water and shot it right at Zexion ready to hit him again but Demyx paused as the low light intensified briefly then flickered into blackness. It was not like the Silhouettes needed lights anyway, they could all see in the dark.  
Demyx snarled at Zexion once more and Zexion bent down to retrieve his book. Both were going attack each other again and both lunged forward.

“ENOUGH!” The growl trembled both of the fighting Silhouettes bones.  
A spell and the head of the Sitar both connected with the large flaming discs of the chakrams. Axel pushed them both away eyeing them furiously, “GET OUT!” he shouted his eyes flashing dangerously, and the room temperature rose instantly evaporating Demyx’s water.

Demyx and Zexion felt their skin burning and Axel swung his chakrams around threateningly, “GET OUT NOW!” Axel was pissed off; he was one of the Silhouettes to eliminate another if things got too far out of hand. It wouldn’t affect him.  
A blade of the chakram sluiced right through Zexion’s lower arm leaving a large nasty gash and Demyx yelped as his arms began to burn.

Axel glared at them both and snarled, “How dare you!” he cast a protective glance to Roxas who was bunched under his thick quilt.   
Axel was secretly glad that the blonde was asleep; he would die if he had to speak to Roxas so soon. He had forgotten how painful it was to be rejected by the ones you cared for. He was embarrassed and felt like a fool. What made him think that Roxas would care?

He snapped his gaze back to Demyx who was the first one to snap out of his rage and his black eyes were apologetic, “I’m sorry Axel, I didn’t mean to be so stupid especially around Roxas-”  
He didn’t get to finish when Axel dropped his hands still holding his chakrams, “Get out,” he retorted quietly. Demyx got whiney then, “Axel I’m sorry! Zexion may not be but I am!”

“OUT,” Axel roared in the final tone. Demyx got the hint then and with a defeated nod he walked to the door, but that was after he snapped to an injured Zexion, “This is your fault, I don’t care if it fucking hurts, I’m not going anywhere near you AGAIN.”  
Demyx disappeared out the door, Zexion left without another word and Axel pushed the door shut loudly. He didn’t care who it woke up, he was fucking beyond angry.

Sora jerked awake when the snarling and the crashing started. He cowered beneath his covers and heard the door slam shut, he cast a quick glance to his alarm clock and saw that it was only 11:09.   
The Silhouettes were upset tonight.

He sat up slowly and was slightly startled when he saw Riku stride from his bedroom door. The silver haired ghost put his head through the wood of the door and looked back. Naminé stood behind him and she whispered, “What happened, they didn’t they get one of us did they?” 

Sora was surprised and he sat up drawing the attention of Naminé, she put a finger to her lips and Riku said bringing his head back in, “The young one with the funny hair and the illusionist.”  
Naminé cocked her head to the side, “Aren’t they together…?” 

Riku shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not sure what happened.” He saw Sora awake and a small smile graced his lips as he went over.  
Sora dropped the quilts and the blankets and asked in a hesitant voice, “I-is Roxas ok?”   
Riku closed his eyes and then shrugged, “I know you’re worried Sora, but I’m sure your brother is fine.”

Naminé nodded, “I’m just a little confused now. The Silhouettes, they aren’t like what they usually are.” She cast a quick glance to the door then back to Sora, “and even more so, Demyx and Zexion fighting like that? I thought they were the most stable bonded pair in the whole house.”

She came over and sat on the foot of the bed, the mattress sunk slightly under her weight and Sora shuffled over so Riku could sit beside him. It got instantly colder, Sora sunk under his warm covers again, and Riku smiled a little sheepishly, “Sorry, Sora.”  
Sora shook his head, his wild brown hair falling in his face, “Don’t worry about it Riku, it isn’t your fault.”

He looked back to the clock and then retorted rather grumpily, “I wish they didn’t decide to fight so early, now I won’t be able to get back to sleep.” He folded his arms across his chest and Naminé whispered, “Is that a bad thing?”  
Sora looked to her and smiled, “No not at all, because then I can talk you guys.” He seemed proud of his answer, Naminé brightened at it, her usual devastating face lighting up a fraction.  
Then Riku said bluntly, “But if you stay up, you will regret it in the morning, don’t you have to go to ‘School’?” 

Both of the Spirits faces fell into their sad expressions again and Sora tried to lighten up the now glum mood, “Oh come on guys, you are my friends, I hardly get to see you all.” Naminé’s eyes were glassy and the black rings around her eyes were massive, “You have only been living here a couple of days Sora, we can’t possibly be friends. We aren’t even alive.”

Sora felt his heart clench and ignoring the bitter cold in his room, he threw down his quilts and scrambled over to the blonde haired spirit and placed his hands on where her shoulders would be. He was mildly frightened when his hands didn’t go through her, instead his hands rested on her spectral shoulders.  
Sensing his surprise Riku whispered from the front of the bed, “You have been marked by the Spirits Sora; I guess you are more ‘Spiritish’ than what your family is.” Naminé nodded and smiled softly at Sora. 

“See,” he said warmly. “That makes us friends, like it or not Naminé, you’re stuck with me.” Naminé hid her face and she giggled slightly.   
Riku said from the pillow, “Stop being such a killjoy Nami. See, everything is ok.”  
Sora chuckled and crawled back to his bed; he ducked back under the covers then sighed, “I wonder how school will be tomorrow?”

He more so asked this to himself but Riku replied, “I guess its how you make of it Sora. Personally, I don’t think Roxas will go very well, he seemed pretty beat up today.”   
Sora frowned, “What do you mean ‘beat up’? Mum was in a panic today looking for him, turned out the little whiner locked himself in his room.”

Riku shook his head. “He was brought home by a Silhouette, he had been hit a couple of times and thrown in the creek in the forest, he was lucky this time.”  
Sora dropped the quilts and demanded angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me?”   
Riku shot back almost immediately, “You never asked.”

The Spirit leant back against the headboard and said, “They are Silhouettes Sora, I do not care for them and the humans that decide to associate with them, it has been that way for a hundred years.” Sora couldn’t be mad at Riku; the enmity was far too deep to get rid of so soon between the rivaling sides.

Sora sunk back down into his pillows and yawned, Riku looked down at him softly and said, “Go to sleep now Sora, there’s no point fighting it.” The brunette went to protest but Naminé hushed him as well, “You have school tomorrow, you have to have fun ok, no point beating around if you’re tired.”

Sora mumbled something again and felt the heavy blanket of sleep surround him. He grew groggier and finally nodded off into sleep, instantly comforted from the houses terrors by the sides of his friends.

As Sora went off back into sleep Naminé and Riku got off the bed, The blonde whispered to the silver haired boy, “Riku, please don’t get too attached, we need to be on our best guard here now.”   
She started to walk back towards the bathroom “I know you like him far too much for your own good, as do I but in all honesty-” she stopped briefly then added, “We all have no idea what’s going to happen to us or the Silhouettes.”

**“Did you hear that?”**   
**“A Spirit is falling for the other sibling, oh how cute.”**   
**“I’d wager big money that this predicament will land the Spirits in trouble.”**   
**“Oh so are you going to reach across the boundary and snatch one up to get to the brunette?”**   
**“Oh no, I think I will let Axel do that, and I will bet on what money I have left, it will be the brown haired Spirit that hurt Roxas.”**

*****

Aerith was up with the sun the next morning; she quickly had a short shower and got dressed and crept down the stairs. She knew she wouldn’t see the boys until later on, she was still terribly concerned on what happened to Roxas. His disappearance and locking everybody out of his room had only heightened the concern.

Aerith made her way into the kitchen, opened the doors to the pantry, and had a long look inside. When she made up her mind, she began to gather the items she needed and started to put them on the counter.  
She had gotten into the habit of getting up early and cooking breakfast for Cloud and the boys.

**“Oh look its Marluxia’s girlfriend.”**   
**“She is not my girlfriend, I simply like to garden with her.”**   
**“That’s what you say; you won’t even show yourself to her, being the wimp that you are.”**   
**“Why do you say these things for Larxene? You can’t possibly be jealous of a human?”**   
**“No, I’m pissed off because my closest friend is falling for her.”**   
**“I am not falling for her. Stop making assumptions.”**

Aerith hummed away in the kitchen, preparing meals for her family. She still wasn’t happy with her husband but they had both gotten over their differences and were on talking terms again.

Around quarter to Seven, Aerith heard the first crash; Cloud came down the stairs trying to fix up a tie he was trying to tie up. He came galumphing into the kitchen and Aerith had to smile to herself.  
If Cloud was left to fend for himself the first thing he would do, would be to accidentally neck himself trying to tie a tie.  
Sora came down not too long later. 

He stomped into the kitchen readjusting his white shirt, his hair was still damp and his pants ties were still hanging. He looked like a mess and Aerith said in her bright merry voice, “Are we ready to go to school today sweetheart?”

Sora blushed and said, “Bloody hell mum, I’m eighteen years old, I should despise and loathe school, like Roxas.”  
He chuckled and wandered around the kitchen before asking, “Where’s breakfast?”  
Aerith pointed to the island bar, shooed a now decent Cloud away, and said, “Where is your brother?”

It was 7 AM when Aerith came out of the kitchen and stood at the bottom of the stairs she called out.  
“Roxas Strife, come down now, don’t try and weasel your way out of school.”  
She listened for a reply and when she didn’t get one she called out again, “If you aren’t ready in five minutes I’m coming up there.”

Then she heard a thump and was satisfied, she went back into the kitchen and said, “So that’s over and done with, now breakfast.”

*****

“Fuck!” Roxas opened the door and saw his uniforms on hangers hanging on his door handle, he grabbed them and heard his mother call out to him. He slammed the door shut and stumbled across the room. 

He threw the uniform on his bed and stripped his shirt off running to the drawers and pulling out a singlet.  
He stumbled over his feet again, pulled the shirt off the bed, and threw it on. The pants came next and he fell against the bed changing. He couldn’t afford to be late on the first day of goddamned school.

He went down and pulled on some socks and his joggers. He stood up and realised that his shirt was still hanging open. He grumbled out in disdain and began to fiddle with the small buttons.   
He wandered to the door and pulled it open.  
“Hiya Roxas.”

Roxas gasped and fell back in surprise, there was a cloud of black and Demyx appeared behind him and helped him back up, “Jeez, I’m sorry.”   
Roxas spun back around and sighed, “Oh for fuck sake Demyx, you scared the hell outta me.”

Sora bounded up the stairs to retrieve more of his school items and stopped at the top of the stairs when he saw the back of Roxas and the black cloaked of the young Silhouette Demyx. They walked to the bathroom and Roxas said, “So where the hell is Zexion? You two are always together!”

Demyx huffed out, “We had a fight and I’m staying right away from him, I have the cracks in my Sitar to prove it.” Roxas paused briefly and said in a low voice, “But aren’t you two like bonded?” Demyx waved his hand, “Unfortunately! I tell you it hurts like hell but I don’t want to even see him.”

Roxas’ hand fluttered to his neck and said, “Did you get bitten on the neck?”   
Demyx laughed, “Oh no, no, mines on the back of my neck, its nasty when it hurts.”  
The two disappeared into the bathroom and Sora was suspicious, Wasn’t Roxas with the red head Axel?  
Why was Demyx following him like a puppy?  
Sora went into his room and jumped slightly when he walked through Riku, “Whoa,” Sora complained, “You’re freezing! Don’t do that again.”

Riku turned around and followed Sora, “Don’t walk through me next time, we Spirits find that incredibly impolite.”  
Sora picked up a school bag and some folders and Riku said, “Are you looking forward to going?” His face dropped when Sora nodded, then he frowned when he saw Sora look out the door, looking for something.

Riku went over and quietly said, “Is something wrong?”  
Sora looked back to his friend and whispered, “I think there is something going on with Demyx and Roxas. Axel and Zexion or whatever his name is, are nowhere to be seen, and suddenly Demyx makes the leap on Roxas!”

Riku pushed him out onto the Spirit side of the hallway and said, “It will not go very far, from what I have observed, Silhouettes are terribly possessive. They protect what’s theirs fiercely.”  
Both stopped when they saw Kairi ghost out of the room next to Sora’s she stopped at them. “Hey Kairi,” Sora exclaimed and the red head Spirit looked confused, “Why is that Silhouette with Roxas? It seems Demyx is going for more than friendship.”

Riku nodded and Kairi blew out from pursed lips, “Why we are stuck so close to ‘them’ just terrifies me, especially when they are angry.”   
She changed the subject then smacked Sora on the shoulder, a smile brightening her face “Woo-hoo, look at you, all dressed up for school.”

Sora went slightly pink and Kairi winked, “Oh don’t mind me, have fun for me ok?” Sora nodded and then they all stopped and stared when Roxas and Demyx reappeared.   
Roxas paused looking at the Spirits wearily whilst Sora eyed Demyx with disdain.  
The brothers however, they both noticed the instantaneous reactions of the Spirits and Demons.  
Kairi and Riku froze taking possessive stances in front of Sora, the whole hall dropped in temperature and Roxas felt the painful fingermarks that the Spirit left the other day burn painfully. 

Demyx was by himself and the growl that came from his chest terrified Roxas, the blonde had only just gotten more comfortable around the Silhouette but all of that was wiped when the terror took hold.

Demyx’s eyes rolled and they were bright white before they filled up with liquid black. The liquid pooled up like tears and Demyx’s eyes were menacing and pitch. He skinned his lip away from razor sharp fangs, his face went a pale shade of blue and black veins snaked up his throat and his face. 

Blackness whipped around the Silhouette and Roxas heard the pounding sound of the ocean in his ears. His nose stung as if he had just snuffed seawater and the back of his throat burned. 

Demyx yowled and made a snarling noise and Roxas made a terrified squeak. He was pushed up against the wall as Demyx levitated off the floor and the pain Roxas felt intensified.

He cried out in horror when he felt long arms envelop him and he was blocked from any danger. Whoever held him was very warm, but this was short-lived when Roxas was thrown behind the first door. It was the broom closet.

Now, not everybody knew this, but Roxas was claustrophobic.   
He hated small areas. Hell, he would walk a fifty flight of stairs than ride up in an elevator. He wasn’t too good in the car either; it made him nervous and angry. His Ipod usually calmed that though.  
Instantly in the dark in a small area, Roxas was terrified and more panicked. He cried out for help, “Help, somebody get me out.” His pleas became more hysterical, “Somebody, PLEASE.”

He pounded on the door with his fists and he felt the clench in his legs and the surge of adrenaline that kicked in with his panic.  
He hit the door with more strength and yelled again, “LET ME OUT!”

Sora watched in horror at the scene unfurling around him, Riku shouted down the hall receiving two more Spirits to aid him, Zack and Leon. Riku stood protectively in front of Sora and ushered him into the bedroom. But Sora could still see, he felt the alarm rise when Roxas was thrown into the cupboard.

He knew Roxas hated small places and instantly his brother’s desperate pleas were heard. They became more panicked and Sora yelped, “Somebody get him out, he’ll have a fit.”  
The pounding began and Sora could only watch helplessly, only hoping that his parents would come up now.

Roxas threw his weight at the flimsy door, his cheeks were coated in hysterical tears and his heart throbbed painfully in his chest. His throat clogged and his cries were gurgled in the darkness of the cupboard. He threw his weight against it again and the door snapped something and the door swung open.

Roxas flew from inside the cupboard and went cascading into the back of a Silhouette, The demon in front of him stumbled only very slightly at the impact and turned his head.   
Roxas nearly died from shock when he saw Axel.

Humiliation and guilt burned him along with the left over panic. But fear was there again when he saw that Axel’s eyes were also black and the veins trailed down his face.  
Roxas yelled out in horror, his body racked by painful spasms, Roxas raced to the stairs ignoring his brother’s pleas to stay.

The pain in his neck signaled that Axel had returned to the living world hit Roxas when he was halfway down the stairs. He was thrown off balance and he landed painfully on his backside before falling the rest of the way down the stairs. 

Aerith screamed when she saw the commotion and hurried out of the kitchen when she saw Roxas fall down. He had been crying and his body rocked with panicked spasms. She fell to her knees and pulled her younger son closer to her, embracing him.   
“Sweetie, its ok, its ok, Roxas sweetheart, tell me what happened?”

Roxas was far too choked to get a decent word out and Aerith rocked him muttering, “You have upset yourself.”  
She lifted her head when Sora come running down the stairs, his face white and was muttering to himself maniacally.  
“What did you do to your brother?”

“I did nothing!” Sora shouted, his eyes pacing back and forth between Roxas and Aerith respectively.   
“I don’t care what you did!” he suddenly shouted at the Kitchen Counter “Look what you did.”

Aerith looked at Cloud in disbelief, then Roxas added in on the confusion. “Leave me alone!” he shouted past Aerith’s arms and to the stairs. “It’s your fault, you locked me in there.”  
Roxas threw his Mother’s arms away from him and stumbled to his feet. “I-I have to get out of here” he muttered. His dazed blue eyes sought out Sora, “It’s out of your control Sora! There nothing we can do.”

Roxas ignored the indignant replies from his Father and Mother before stumbling to the front door and disappearing outside to the garden.  
Sora followed him, “Roxas! It wasn’t my fault, why do you insist on blaming me?”

In the mouth of the Kitchen, Aerith stood up, white in the face. She sent one more confused glance to her husband before she muttered “I need to go and find my rosary beads.”

*****

“I’m sorry Roxas” Axel called out helplessly as the Pyro Silhouette breezed out the door and after the stumbling blonde “Don’t do this again Roxas. I don’t like having to repeat myself!”

“No!” Roxas shouted, “There’s one thing I hate more than the Supernatural! And its small, dark areas. I’m claustrophobic Axel and you go and shove me in the broom closet. I go into panic attacks!”  
“I didn’t know!” Axel called out helplessly “I was trying to get you away from the danger, Demyx against several Spirits was dangerous. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

As Sora stumbled out onto the grass, ignoring Riku’s horrified cries from the door, he only knew too well of Roxas, deep dark fear about dark areas.  
After all, it had been his fault.

It had been nearly a year and a half ago and Roxas was terribly teased at school. Bullies, mainly Sora, had hoisted him up, taken him into the Art rooms, and locked him in the Black Room. It was used for the photography students; it was incredibly small and incredibly dark. Using a projector at the top of the room, Sora and his friends showed Roxas scary pictures of demons and ghosts and made animal noises.

Roxas had gone into a fit of panic and ended up in the hospital.  
His blood pressure had sharply increased and his body had been put under a great deal of stress. 

Sora had gotten into a lot of trouble, when he had seen the damage done to his brother because of his stupid prank, Sora vowed that he would never be the one to hurt him again. 

Roxas stopped in the middle of the terrace and turned to face Axel. The red head stopped as well and stood there, letting his arms drop by his side.   
Finally, Roxas sighed defeated, he cleared his throat nervously and said in an almost timid voice “U-um, I’m sorry Axel. I was…no, I’m still a jackass. I wanted to…say sorry to you for being so cruel yesterday. A-And I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier as well, you didn’t know that I had a fear. You were only trying to…”

Roxas trailed off, his eyes leaving Axel and tracing the grass. His arm came up and wrapped around his other one, he stood there awkwardly and Sora stopped in his tracks as Axel strode towards his brother. 

“The…The thing is” Roxas said to the grass “I’ve realized that I was selfish, y-you did ruin my life in a couple of ways, but I could have at least had a look on your side of the story as well.”  
Well, he still did admit that Axel screwed him over in many ways.

“It’s been a few fucked up days” Roxas smirked lightly, lifting his head and glancing at Axel “I move in and already I’m property of a demon. So I probably cannot leave this house without you. So if I’m stuck with you, I should give you a chance to be my friend.”

Roxas knew that his life had been officially screwed, he still wanted to have a few days of mourning before this, but having that dream about Axel just frayed his nerves and rattled his dormant feelings.  
Axel wasn’t going to leave his life if he asked, he was just going to have to see what happens, when it happens.   
It was far too early for it to be love, too early for it to be called even called ‘like.’  
Acceptance, learning to be with each other, that should suffice…for now.

Axel seemed somewhat satisfied with the response as he towered over Roxas, “Apology accepted Squirt, I’ll try to be more attuned to your feelings next time. I must admit, you were kind of a jackass.”  
His hand tousled Roxas’ blonde locks and Roxas scowled “I am not your leaning post Axel and don’t call me Squirt. That’s just humiliating.”

Sora backed up and started to walk back towards the Mansion, his intent to comfort his brother, quashed by the Silhouette Axel. Now he had too most probably rush back to the Mansion before Axel decided to attack him out on neutral grounds.   
He didn’t think Riku would be too amused with him.

As Roxas and Axel climbed the stairs to the Mansion, Axel bristled lightly when the sight of several Spirits surrounding Sora greeted them. Sora had a blank face as the Spirit with silver hair shouted at him “Are you trying to get yourself killed Sora? I have told you the Spirits can’t protect you if you are going to be an idiot.”

Axel shook his head and Roxas ignored the incredulous looks of his parents as he walked past the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. As he opened the bed, Axel scratched the back of his head before gesturing to the bed.  
“Oh and I figured you might have wanted them back.”

Roxas smiled when he saw all his belongings that had been taken by the bullies the day before were perched upon his bed. Axel had gone through the trouble to get them back for him. His phone and his wallet even the shopping Roxas had gotten.

“Roxas! Are you alright? Do I need to come up there?” Aerith’s voice came up the stairs.   
Roxas looked up at Axel gratefully, “Thank you,” he whispered and Axel let him go smiling. “Go on, you need to answer your mother.”  
Roxas cleared his throat and called out huskily, “Uh y-yeah Mum, I’m fine now.”   
He grabbed his schoolbag and threw things haphazardly into it. He looked up at Axel, face half-expectant, “So are you going to come suffer with me, or-or”, he struggled with his last statement, Axel could hear the light fear behind it, “Or are you going to go away again?”

Axel went over and placed a warm hand on Roxas’ shoulder, “I have suffered for a hundred years, more than. School will be totally fine, I would hardly call that sufferance, maybe a little annoying though.”

A shadow of his smirk flashed across his face and he whispered in Roxas’ ear, “I will be out with you in a second.” He felt Roxas shudder briefly at his voice and fought the perversions that instantly bombarded him.  
Roxas nodded and pulled the bag down, pocketing his valuables. He walked out of the door until there was a twinge of pain in his neck. He shut the door and wondered if he couldn’t even be a few short meters away from Axel, how were they going to cope?

Axel watched the door shut, his instantly went pitch black and flaming shadow tendrils shout out of his hand and enveloped Demyx. He pulled him closer and when the frightened Silhouette was in front of him, Axel hissed dangerously.   
“Don’t ever pull that stunt again, any of them.” He bore is fangs at Demyx’s throat, Roxas is mine, and he has finally accepted me. Stick with your own mate, don’t try and take mine.”

He pushed Demyx back roughly and Demyx nodded fearfully as Axel regained his composure, “I’m allowed to be friends with him right?” he asked, his eyes pleading.  
Axel snarled, he hated sharing Roxas. But the Nocturne won’t shut up if he was forbidden to be friends with his precious blonde.

Axel nodded with a strained nod and then walked to the door and pulled it open. Roxas was there waiting for him and Axel said in a smooth voice, “Go down and have some breakfast, don’t panic because I will be right behind you.”

Roxas was grateful for Axel and he said in a soft voice, “Well, I wonder what will happen today?” his voice lowered “I hope that Seifer dude doesn’t decide to pick on me again.”

They walked down the stairs and Axel could help but think to himself darkly,   
_“Oh he won’t be bothering you for quite a while Roxas, don’t worry.”_


	12. Certain of the Danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had an issue when I posted this on Fanfiction a few years ago.   
> So I will quickly explain, June, July and August are WINTER months in Australia. So I hope there wont be any confusion when you read this chapter.
> 
> Kingdom Hearts doesn't belong to me.

When 8 AM rolled around, Aerith stood up from the island bar and exclaimed, “Alright boys, I want you getting to school early, it will help when you get your Schedules and find people that will help you around.”

Roxas went pink and he said abruptly, “That’s embarrassing Mum, there is no way in hell that I will go up to any random kid and ask for help, they would probably laugh at me.”  
He folded his arms across his chest and looked away. 

“We will be fine Mum, honestly, I bet people at school will be nice,” Sora sighed.  
He walked to the entrance of the stairs, hauled up his school bag along with Roxas’, and went to go kiss his mother goodbye.

Roxas rolled his eyes; his brother was such a suck-up it made him sick. He went to go retrieve his bag from Sora and then tried to run away towards the front door when Aerith reached out and grabbed him.

“No Mum, No!” Roxas gabbled hysterically trying to twist his face away and his mother simply giggled and landed a large kiss on his cheek. “Good luck sweetheart.”  
She laughed to herself when Roxas mussed up his mess of golden locks, face red and headed for the door with a brisk pace.

Sora waved to his parents, followed his brother out of the door, and jumped down the front porch steps onto the dirt driveway. 

“There’s something wrong with those boys,” Cloud sighed from beside his Wife as he watched the boys walk towards the forests. “I don’t think moving them out here would have helped Aerith, if anything, Roxas has gotten…”

“He’ll get better” Aerith replied with a small, adamant smile “Just give him a little time, he is just getting used to the new house is all.”  
Cloud rolled his eyes “Enough to be talking to himself Aerith? I know that this place was once a Mental Asylum. Maybe there are Spirits haunting the Halls. I’m not much of a Believer but…”

“There’s no such thing as Ghosts,” Aerith said turning back to the front door as the boys disappeared “Maybe they’re both…‘expressing’ themselves.”  
Cloud sighed “Right, yet it was enough for you to go running for your Rosary Aerith. You always choose to be so oblivious.”  
He shook his head, “I have to go to Work Aerith, sooner or later, you will begin to see the problems with the boys.”

*****

Roxas walked slightly ahead away from his brother.  
Sora sighed inwardly when he saw Axel dawdling on behind both of them admiring the scenery. His hands were folded on the back of his head and he just strolled along seemingly without a care in the world.

When he reached the sunlight, Sora saw that his skin was so pale it was almost translucent. He saw the black blood pounding under the thin veil of skin and grimaced. 

At the back of his conscience, Sora kind of wished that he could have some of his Spirit friends come along with him.  
Roxas, well, his little brother was sort forced into it and Sora couldn’t blame him.

Sora walked down the dirt path and into the trees, he frowned when he saw Axel unfurl his hand from behind his head and scratched his ear looking disinterested. His eyes went dark as he searched the trees around them.  
Sora felt a brief thrill of fear spear bolt through him and he quickened his pace to walk besides Roxas.  
“It’s ok Sora, he will behave,” Roxas muttered to him hiking up his bag, he dug his hands in his pockets pulling out the Ipod Touch. Sora noticed the forlorn look on Axel’s face when his brother stuffed the earphones into his ears and cranked the music up.

The brunette couldn’t help but cringe when he heard the volume of the music, briefly wondering how his brother could handle the noise coming out of those tiny ear buds.   
He scuttled away when he saw Axel whip his head around and glare at him dangerously. His emerald eyes narrowed into slits and Sora bent his head down, refusing to walk anywhere near that damned demon.

*****

Demyx watched out of the window at his friends disappearing into the forest. He sighed letting out the breath he had been holding. It misted against the glass and irritably he wiped it away with his sleeve.

The pain at the back of his neck was coming close to becoming unbearable and he began to fidget, trying to fight himself from moving back towards Zexion. The Silhouette had offended Demyx; the sandy blonde truly believed that they had been given a second chance. Though not entirely human and made to live in the darkness, it was another chance.

“Hey what’s the matter shit-for-brains?” The loud voice startled Demyx who fell away from the balcony door and saw Larxene and Marluxia stroll into Roxas and Axel’s room. Larxene had her arm linked with Marluxia who looked around the messy room in disdain and said, “Roxas is so terribly untidy, I can’t stand to look at this.”

He unwound himself from Larxene who continued over to Demyx and slung her arm around his shoulders saying in a mock sad voice. “Poor Dem-Dem is jealous because he wants to leave the house and follow his new friend. He wants to see Twilight Town and feel the sunlight on his skin again.”

Her green eyes glowed mischievously and Demyx pouted looking back out on the trees. “I want to go out and have some fun, I mean, I wouldn’t hurt anybody, and no one can actually see us right?”

Larxene examined her nails and said in a disinterested voice, “Uh huh, whatever,” she looked back and tapped his head with long fingers, “Thick skull Demyx, you are with Mr.-I-love-his-smile, he will never, I repeat, never leave this house, therefore banishing your dreams of going outside.”

Marluxia held a large pile of Roxas’ clothes and said, “it’s a real shame Demyx, being outside is wonderful, Aerith is doing a marvelous job on preparing the garden, she buys a lot of good things.”

Demyx scowled and spat, “Well guess what Marly, she isn’t buying things to plant. It’s June. Winter, moron. She is only preparing the soil so it will be alright for spring.”  
Larxene pulled away and said in a sharp voice, “Hey don’t ruin Marly’s excitement because yours has been beat down ok.” She jabbed her fingers into Demyx’s chest, “It was you who threw yourself at the first Silhouette you saw dipshit, don’t go around and blame the rest of us because you acted stupidly.”

She stopped and twisted her neck around when Luxord and Xigbar strode into the room both with ‘happy’ looks on their faces.   
Marluxia shut the drawers to Roxas’ dresser after putting away the discarded clothes and fixing up any other item that had been strewn around. “What have you guys found out now?” he asked calmly while Larxene snapped impatiently, “This better be good because I was on a roll with a lecture to numb-nut here.” She jabbed a thumb in Demyx’s direction.

Luxord shut the bedroom door as Xigbar announced, “I have shit on the Spirits.”  
Larxene dropped the attitude immediately and her eyes glinted dangerously, “Oh really? Oh please tell me, I so want to wreak havoc.”  
Demyx grew irritated when his issue dropped so suddenly but he craned his ears.   
Marluxia tidied up the room and satisfied with his effort he stepped to Larxene’s side and watched Xigbar and Luxord intently.

Luxord chuckled drawing cards from the darkness and peered at them before flicking one to Larxene. She deftly caught it and glanced upon it, it was the silver haired Spirit. She looked back up at Luxord and said, “What does he have to do with anything?”  
Marluxia peered over her right shoulder and Demyx over the left.  
Darkness enveloped the card and it quickly changed to a picture of Roxas’ older brother Sora.

Demyx cocked a brow and Xigbar said, “Overheard them speaking, seems like the silver haired brat is falling for the elder brother.”  
Luxord nodded and the card materialized back into his gloved hand, “It is a weakness in the chain, too long have we struggled with the Spirits, maybe using that boy we can finally overthrow them, it is because of them is why we are being tortured.”  
Demyx snorted and then remarked, “That’s hardly fair, I think they might have suffered more than us, if we use Sora against them, they will use Roxas.”  
Xigbar seemed unhindered, “Roxas is stronger than the other and with Axel by his side, I say we have the advantage.”

Larxene had gone terribly quiet and Xigbar snapped, “Oh Larxene, get over it, you haven’t associated with her for nearly a hundred years, she will only drag you down.”   
Larxene went to argue back but Marluxia suddenly jumped back from the window and hissed, “We have trouble.”

All the Silhouettes turned around and Demyx hissed, “How does he keep escaping? Xaldin and Lexaeus should do a better job guarding the doorway.”  
There was a gust of wind, the balcony doors flew inward, and through the plume of darkness, Saix appeared snarling at the others.

The other Silhouettes bunched together defending themselves and the blue haired Silhouette hissed, “You all think you can escape? You believe you are powerful?” He chuckled cruelly “You will all suffer; all die a torturous death by hands of myself and Xemnas.”

His yellow eyes bored into Xigbar’s, who then scoffed and barked loudly, “You are a mongrel Saix, simply a dog you will not be able to bring any of us down.”   
Saix’s teeth protruded from his mouth and Demyx whimpered hiding behind Larxene. Xigbar summoned darkness and in a flash of blue and purple two large Arrow Guns appeared. Xigbar took accurate aim and said, “Make a move mongrel, I dare you.”

Saix let a roar erupt from his chest and he lunged forward. He collided with a black wall, some of the Silhouettes spun around, and Demyx saw Zexion stride in.  
His eyes were dark and he said, “We need to get out of this bedroom, immediately.”  
Saix hissed again and Xigbar took a little step back and then said in a low voice, “Watch out everybody.” The air around all the Silhouettes spun and twisted and when they landed on the green grass outside, that was where Saix bent over clutching his stomach spasming and making choked up noises. 

Xigbar’s one yellow eye widened and he barked harshly, “Everybody get back!” His guns clicked into place, the vivid purple projectiles slid into the bottom slots, and he placed his fingers on the triggers. 

Zexion pushed Demyx roughly behind him and the younger Silhouette stumbled over his feet and landed right into the water of the fountain. There was a loud splash and Larxene shrieked, “I’m getting out of here.” There was also a yelp from Marluxia, “He’ll kill us and ruin Aerith’s garden.”  
“Stop about the fucking garden Marluxia, the dog is rabid; we need to get out of here!” Larxene scolded.

Luxord shouted, “Nobody move, he’ll go after you otherwise.” Larxene whimpered and Marluxia breathed “Great.”  
The water sloshed around in the fountain and Demyx rose spluttering, faint black lines running up his cheeks.

Saix lifted his head and his eyes were narrowed into slits, they were pitch black and horrifying, putrid yellow fangs protruded from his mouth. They weren’t the normal white fangs the other Silhouettes had, they were rotten and the size of one’s finger.  
His scar had split, revealing part of his forehead and a tiny trail of blood ran alongside his nose and down his face. The blue spikes at the back of his head bristled dangerously and he roared, “This will end now.”

*****

Roxas protested irritably when Sora had come up beside him and yanked one earphone out of his ear. They had reached the front entrance of Twilight View Secondary School and Roxas noticeably shrunk into the sky blue material of his shirt.   
Some kids had made the venture inside already, but what was visible to the brothers the playground was definitely deserted and quiet. 

Roxas glared around the front gates and he heard Axel snort, “Wow, it even has the fog of desertion that’s too bad- sorry Roxas.”  
The Silhouette shut his mouth and Sora sighed readjusting his bag for the zillionth time in a row. “Well, let’s get this moving Roxas; it won’t be that bad I promise.” 

At his brothers words Roxas snorted and said quietly, “Oh for you it won’t, jackass.”  
The brothers and the unseen Silhouette made their way through the gates and over the green lawn to the sliding doors of the main office. 

Upon entering, a rush of warm air greeted them all and the door slid shut painfully behind them. There was a shop to their left side with had the window shut and running down the right was another corridor. There was another window with a lone lady sitting inside and she looked up when Sora dragged Roxas closer.

She smiled and fixed up her glasses and asked in a brisk but warm voice, “Can I help you boys?”  
Sora smiled grimly and said, “Um, we are new here. I’m Sora Strife and this is my brother Roxas, we are here to get our schedules?” 

The lady smiled and said, “Not a problem boys, I will get your timetables and Sora I shall equip you with a locker number.” She smiled and added before she hoisted herself out of the seat, “Only seniors get lockers, the juniors are restricted in parts of the school, they are senior privileges only.”

She pulled out a large white folder and wandered back over to the desk clicking her tongue. “Ok, ok I got your folders and timetables right here, you will have to go to the library and get references sending you to the book room so you can both receive your textbooks.”

She looked to Roxas who had gone an ashy grey colour and muttered, “Are you alright?”  
At her remark, Sora turned his attention to his brother and saw the Silhouette tense and snarl. Through the doors walked a buff dark olive toned boy and a petite girl with a dark shade of blue walk in.

Roxas hid behind Sora and the kids walked to the window and muttered something that Roxas didn’t want to decipher. The lady however, her eyes went wide and she said, “I will inform his teachers immediately, I do hope he recovers quickly.”

Sora stepped back when Axel bent low to murmur in Roxas’ ear. He simply pulled back pouting and he snarled to his brother. “Can we go now?”  
He seemed agitated and Sora grabbed their timetables and said in an exasperated voice, “Alright Roxas, come on no need to get into a bad mood.”

*****

“I’m not a fighter,” whimpered Marluxia hiding behind Larxene. Saix watched all the Silhouettes critically watching for the tiniest movement. He was the Silhouette mongrel, he had the power to pull Silhouettes apart and they couldn’t regenerate their limbs if they were gone. He was an excellent fighter and knew everybody’s weaknesses, now he was going to attack them.   
Everybody had a reason to fear him; the only one who could actually hold Saix off was Axel.  
Xemnas was the only one who could call Saix back.  
“Shut up you sook,” Larxene hissed, she watched Saix and her comrades wearily, ready to attack with her lightning attacks if needed. Xigbar was the only one with his weapons out, any other summons could cause Saix to go even madder.

Suddenly the blue haired Silhouette perked his pointed ears, his eyes crossed over to the front door, and a growl escaped his lips. The door opened and all the Silhouettes cursed when they saw Aerith step out onto the balcony adjusting her gardening gloves and putting on her oversized sunhat. 

She stepped down the stairs and Demyx shrieked, “Stop him.”   
Saix roared and it echoed through the trees making Aerith glance up fearfully, her large green eyes widening some more. As Saix lunged towards the mother, all the Silhouettes moved simultaneously. 

Xigbar shot about five purple projectiles and Luxord tossed one of his cards revealing a Tarot card of the hanged man. Ropes sprung out and wrapped around the Silhouette he shook again and his black eyes widened and piercing yellow shone through.  
“Berserker” Larxene yelped as Luxord pulled Saix back over the grass.  
His boots left scuff marks over the grass, he snapped his teeth together, and claws grew out of his hands and ripped through his skin leaving them torn and bloody. He sliced through Luxord’s ropes therefore ripping the card and Luxord grimaced in pain and dropped all his cards as he fell to his knees.

Xigbar shot more missiles but he couldn’t immobilise a berserker Saix. Without really thinking, Xigbar threw down his guns and raced to the other Silhouette knocking him off his feet as he tackled him.

Xigbar was experienced; he knew what he was doing. However, his brute strength didn’t match up to Saix’s. His teeth snapped barely a hair width from Xigbar’s neck and through the commotion Larxene screamed and abandoning Marluxia she ran forward launching all eight knifes accurately into Saix’s back. Black clouds erupted from the sky and as the thunder rumbled lightning struck down as Saix moved away. 

Electricity buzzed through Larxene and it zapped between her hairs that spiked up erratically. She regained her knifes and Xigbar rolled away as Saix plunged down his claws into the grass.

He spun his head around and fixated them on Larxene. She faltered slightly and on fours, he raced towards her.  
She screamed and the wind whipped around as a massive lightning storm rumbled overhead. 

“Larxene!” the voice was frightened but there was a rumble, not from the sky but from the fountain. The top of the fountain that had not been working previously rattled dangerously. Demyx stood in the water and then the fountain top sprung off and water erupted high into the sky. Through the spray, Demyx jumped onto the ledge holding his Sitar his face going darker. 

The water twisted in the sky and aimed right at Saix drenching him. It circled around him in a ball and Saix sliced through the water with his claws. Larxene aimed another lightning strike at the water drenched Saix and there was a loud shocking noise. Sparks erupted out making high zapping sounds and there was a furious yell from Saix.   
The water dropped from the sky and the fountainhead sprayed into the sky falling back on Demyx, plastering his hair to his face. 

Larxene hurried over and helped Xigbar up, he seemed frazzled and the black veins snaked up his face as well.   
There was a yell of shock from Zexion who proceeded to shout, “It isn’t over!”  
The wind whipped his hair from his face revealing his pitch black eyes with the white pupils. Darkness spilt from his hands in waves and Marluxia yelled, “Where is Aerith?”

Aerith had passed out on the balcony, her face obscured by her long brown hair. The thunder rumbled again and from a smoking heap Saix reappeared, half his face was entirely burnt off and he was missing a clawed hand. 

Not that it even mattered.  
Within seconds, the missing parts materialized from darkness and smoke filled the wounds reforming his face and his hand. His yellow eyes glowed lividly and he ran right at Zexion who moved lithely aside, but he didn’t expect Saix to spin back around and hit him right in his chest. Claws penetrated his chest and from the fountain, Demyx let out an ear-splitting gurgled cry. 

From the front door, there was an icy blast of wind and Larxene cried, “Vexen! Help him.” She gestured uselessly to an impaled Zexion and the platinum blonde Silhouette strode right through Aerith and down the stairs barking, “Demyx, now, I need water.”  
Demyx was losing his balance his face going a sick shade of blotched red and purple. From behind him, large spheres of water erupted from the fountain and immediately Vexen froze then into spikes and Demyx hurled them before landing face first into the grass, crushing his Sitar under his weight.

Three out of the five frozen spikes hit Saix who dropped Zexion who lie limp in the grass. His book fell from his cloak and lie open on the grass, pages torn, ripped, and covered in black blood.

With one Silhouette, well two Silhouettes down already Saix went for the next one. Larxene shrieked again and pushed Xigbar away from her “Get Away!” she yelled and before she could even face the rampaging Silhouette, he froze and Marluxia yelled in a frantic voice, “Run Larxene, run!” Marluxia held his scythe steady as Saix narrowed his eyes and flung his arms around.  
Claws smashed against the blade of his scythe and there was a metallic screech as Marluxia struggled with the enormous strength Saix still had, even though he was seriously hurt.  
There was a groaning sound and suddenly Marluxia’s scythe broke. The handle snapped under the exertion. The head of the scythe impaled itself on Saix’s shoulder and left with a useless handle Marluxia gracefully jumped away and sprinted towards the balcony. He heaved Aerith off the front porch and slammed the door shut leaving the other Silhouettes to fend for themselves.

*****

Roxas jerked his head up when there was a loud rumble in the sky. He saw the clouds congregating together forming an ominous black cloud and said to himself in bewilderment, “That storm came on us quickly didn’t it?”  
He looked to Axel who looked up as well and a breeze came down through the trees and ruffled his crimson spikes. His eyes hardened and Roxas felt a chill run down his arms and he said in a hushed voice, “What’s the matter?”  
Axel snarled and Roxas said in a small but tired voice, “Something has gone wrong hasn’t it?”

*****

“Get them out of here!” Xigbar shouted roughly gesturing his fingers to the lifeless bodies of Zexion and Demyx. Luxord struggled to his feet and along with Vexen they pulled the bodies together and Vexen snarled, “Why did he have to go after Zexion?”  
Luxord grimaced in pain and said in a breath barely above a whisper, “Maybe because Zexion can pose more of a threat with his spells.”

Across the lawn, Xigbar and Larxene stood off against Saix who stood there with something resembling a smirk on his horrifying putrid face. “You won’t stop will you?” Larxene panted, keeping an eye on her thunderclouds. 

Xigbar held up his guns and he said in a gruff voice, “Why won’t you fucking die?”  
Saix snorted and through his yellow teeth, he pointed to the top of the house and said in a distorted voice, “Because I serve him.”  
They both looked up and in the window they saw a ghostly face they all remembered so vividly glowering down at them.  
It was Xemnas.

“FUCK!” Xigbar clicked his guns back into place and Larxene said, “We’re doomed, we are fucking doomed!” She jumped back and taking the momentary distraction Saix lunged forward and grabbed the girl in his arms, they fell to the grass and Larxene shrieked in fear and agony. 

Saix went to bite through the soft flesh of the one female Silhouette. As he went to bite down there was a wave of searing heat and a large flame wheel erupted from the trees and enveloped Saix.  
Larxene rolled to her side and staggered to her feet and she saw Roxas running towards the house yelling hysterically, “Mum! Mum.” Axel strode out from the trees and Axel barked harshly, “Get the fuck away from her you dog.” His chakrams flamed to life in his hands and Saix snarled.

Axel started to run when Saix’s eyes slid towards the boy jumping up the stairs to the front door, pounding on it with his fists.   
Larxene was hysterical and she shouted, “Roxas!” she sprinted to the balcony and wrenched the boy away who exclaimed in shock at the woman above him. “Run!” she breathed and Roxas saw Saix stepping over the grass. 

Larxene picked him right off his feet and ran to the end of the balcony; she threw him over the railing. Roxas staggered up and he saw Axel lunge at Saix tackling him to the ground shouting furiously. “I will kill you, you know I can you dirty fuck.” 

He dug a chakram blade right into Saix’s chest and he hollered, “Roxas get away, please get to safety.”  
Roxas hesitated and then saw the other Silhouettes some distance away with an unconscious Demyx and Zexion. He ran towards them and collapsed on his knees panting. Vexen glared at him icily and Roxas nearly yelped, “Who are you?” he glanced wildly to Luxord and gasped, “You’re hurt!”  
His eyes went down to Demyx and Zexion, a strangled cry escaped his lips, and he drew away into a ball, “Where’s my Mum? Is she safe?”   
Luxord nodded weakly and he said, “She is fine, Marluxia is with her in the house, they are perfectly fine.”

Roxas was uncertain and his eyes slid back to the scene of Axel and Saix. Then, Roxas, Luxord and Vexen all jumped when Zexion sat up abruptly. His cloak was tattered and covered in blood where he had been punctured by the claws.   
His eyes flicked back to their sky blue color, his gaze was fixated on the attic window of the house and from the grass, Demyx lifted a battered, grass stained face. His gaze settled on Roxas and he said “Roxas? Aren’t you supposed-to-” he trailed off and Zexion breathed “Oh no.”

Everybody turned their heads up and Roxas yelped “Axel, Axel!”  
There was another rumble of thunder and blackness poured from the small window in the attic. A path from the side of the house, grass began to wither and die in the shapes of footprints.  
They went over to the group of Silhouettes and everybody scrambled to their feet. Axel totally abandoned Saix on the grass and taking his chakrams he ran back to the group of cowering Silhouettes.  
He stood in front of them defiantly and from the porch, Larxene and Marluxia watched on in fear.

As the mist began to clear, there were simultaneous groans and fright. Large black boots appeared and a long black cloak billowed out. Arms appeared and long silver hair whipped around and dark amber eyes stared down at the Silhouettes.  
“Xigbar, Luxord… Vexen, Zexion and Demyx.”  
The eyes slid to Axel and the voice became darker “Axel!”

Axel gripped his chakrams tighter feeling bile rise up in his throat, the anger penetrated his chest and the flames raced up his arms.  
Xemnas turned his head and barked angrily, “Saix.” The blue haired Silhouette cringed and settled back from his berserker form, he collapsed under the intense pain now and fell into the grass.

Xemnas looked back stony faced to the Silhouettes and his eyes travelled to the smaller form of Roxas.  
A spark danced to life in his amber eyes and Axel threw himself down to the blonde and snapped, “Touch him and I will KILL you.” Black crept up his face and Xemnas barked throwing up his hand and crushing Axel in blackness,   
“You know exactly what I want Axel, maybe I can use him to get-.”

He stopped when Saix yelped and he turned to see Zexion standing up with his Lexicon back in hand and the door burst open and two lumbering shapes appeared.   
Roxas felt his heart thumping in his chest, Xemnas, it was Xemnas!   
With all the Silhouettes distracted and hurt, he made his escape. The whole Saix façade was just to distract the others and he could come down.  
He had succeeded.  
Roxas held his knees tightly as Xemnas released Axel who collapsed on the grass his breath ragged. He snarled at Zexion then, “Go on then, you may have gotten stronger but you are a mere Magician, I will escape them.”  
The blackness came away and more tower like Silhouettes appeared.   
Demyx heaved in a shuddering breath and then said, “You are going to use Lexaeus and Xaldin as barriers Zexion?”

There was no answer and as black smoke filled the clearing. It began to rain.   
As the larger Silhouettes disappeared Zexion muttered, “He went without a fight, he is biding his time for something.”  
Xigbar snapped back, “Well he has escaped the barriers you put up Zexion, you let yourself get distracted and he escaped.”   
Zexion’s eyes blazed and he said, “Getting impaled on claws isn’t exactly nice Xigbar, Lexaeus and Xaldin will suffice until we can get Roxas and his family out of the house safely.”

Axel growled and lifted his sodden cloaked arms, his hair was steaming and he hissed, “Can we get out of this accursed rain?” he looked back down to Roxas and helped him up and Demyx asked, “Do you think Xemnas just came down to see how much stronger we were?”

Luxord shook his head and chuckled weakly, “We still lost against Saix, a game I will not like to lose again.”  
However, everybody stopped briefly when Vexen remarked darkly, “He came down to make sure he had leverage for Axel this time.” He glanced to Roxas and said, “He was right, Roxas is his next target.”

Axel jerked Roxas away and snapped, “That isn’t true, he will never have power over me, He knows with me around Roxas and his family won’t be touched.” His confidence weren’t as high as what his voice indicated but he had to make Roxas feel safe.  
As they all stalked over the grass Roxas finally whispered,   
“Mum’s gunna kill me for skipping school.”


	13. Mysteries

Roxas sat in the chair with his head down and his hands folded in his lap.  
Aerith tinkered away in the kitchen without saying a word.

Biting his lip, Roxas snuck a quick glance towards Axel who lounged on the Silhouette side of the house with an unfathomable look upon his face. Roxas knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk himself out of this predicament if Aerith asked the questions, the truth wouldn’t even sound like the truth if he told it.   
Aerith didn’t like stories and Roxas worried about that fact.

Axel gazed down at him and gave him a small smile before averting his gaze back to the foot of the stairs with his jade eyes glinting maliciously and Roxas simply sighed. He did not have the slightest clue of what to do with this predicament he had been thrown in.

He quickly thought of his options and wondered whether he should simply sit there on the lounge or bolt up to his bedroom and shut the door behind him.   
Finally, a plate dropped in the sink and from the kitchen Aerith finally spoke, “You skipped school Roxas, did you think that I had left the house?”  
Roxas glanced up at Axel whose eyes glinted briefly, before he shrugged his shoulders unhelpfully.

He wasn’t going to be a help at all.  
At the lack of a response from her son, Aerith shook her head, put a hand to her head and mumbled, “I hate the abrupt changes in the weather, it makes me ill.”   
Roxas frowned and said, “Me skipping school Mum, Is that what you are worried about?” he got to his feet and quickly scanned the lounge room that was devoid of any other Silhouette life beside Axel and Aerith dropped her hand and narrowed her eyes.

“I am not going to let you off the hook easily Roxas, when I tell your father of this he won’t be happy, and it will not be pretty.”  
The blonde threw out his hand and said in a voice that started to rise in volume, “I found you passed out on the front porch Mum! What would have happened if something went wrong?”

Aerith’s voice rose slightly and she snapped irritably “I wasn’t feeling all too well this morning Roxas, I didn’t take my medication and then I hallucinated.”  
Roxas lost his patience and let his hand drop to his side when he snapped, “Fine, whatever, you think you’re right Mum.”

He stomped to the stairs and Axel followed him and when they both reached the top of the stairs Axel smirked, “Off the hook?”   
Roxas growled in his throat and spun to the Silhouette and hissed angrily, “I will be in shit off Dad for skipping school for one and Secondly, I won’t be able to hide all the Silhouettes forever Axel.” 

He turned on his heels and stalked off down the hallway before stopping briefly to thrust his hand towards the stairs, “Mum isn’t even on medication, I swear that woman is not all there sometimes.”   
Axel snorted in laughter, they walked to the bedroom, and he leant over Roxas and pushed the door open then to exclaim, “Oh come on Roxas, she’s your Mother, you love her.”  
Roxas went into the dimness of his bedroom and said admitting his thoughts, “Of course I love her, just sometimes-”, he paused then finished what he was going to say, “sometimes I just don’t understand.”

Axel shut the door and continued to chuckle lightly when he added, “Well, we were lucky for now Roxas, but for me I have some trouble to settle down and end.”  
Roxas huffed out in annoyance into the dimness and then he pouted, “Who keeps shutting the blinds to this room? I hate it.” 

He strode to the window and wrenched the blinds apart only to be greeted by the sight of the dreary, stormy sky. He sighed heavily and mumbled, “What did I ever get out of this fucking moving house business?”  
From behind him, Axel opened his arms and boasted proudly “Me!”

Roxas rolled his eyes and replied to himself more so, “Great.”   
He walked over to his bed and threw himself on it, stuffing his face into the comfort of his pillow.  
He heard Axel scuff his boots against the wood of the floor in an awkward manner and Roxas lifted his head and lifted himself to sit up against his pillows watching Axel wearily. 

Axel rubbed the back of his head in an uncomfortable gesture and looked towards the wall not looking at Roxas. The blonde quirked his mouth to the side of his face then decided to pat the bed lightly and said in an uncertain voice, “Sit down Axel.” 

The Silhouette obeyed and he sat at the end of his bed a fair distance from Roxas.  
Roxas watched the red head intently, was a supposed demon. However, here he was, he was embarrassed and feeling awkward in the presence of a human. He might be over a hundred years old and yet he had barely begun to live.  
Roxas finally sprung the first sentence, “I have heard the story Axel, but I want to hear it from you.”

Axel stopped breathing, not that he needed to anyway but he snuck a quick glance to Roxas and looked to his lap and actually stuttered, “I-I don’t know what to say Roxas, you are already so disgusted by me. I don’t want to make what little relationship we have destroyed.” 

Roxas felt guilty now, Axel was making the best effort to be nice and actually care and as always, he was shot down. That was where Axel withdrew from everybody.  
Roxas asked another question “Axel, what is the ‘In Between’? Why does Xemnas torture you for it?”

Axel hesitated then looked to Roxas and whispered, “It’s a realm that runs at the end of this world and the realm of darkness, it’s a paradise between what is good and what is bad, nothing goes wrong there, there is no problems.”

He squeezed his hands together, struggling with something inside and managed to continue softly, “from the ‘In Between’, you can decide who dies or not, or you can peer into the darkness and bring back lost souls or revive lost power, in Xemnas’ case, he has grown weak and he wants his power back, hence, he wants me.”

Roxas frowned and asked, “you just said you can decide who dies from that place-’. He didn’t get to finish when he saw Axel shake his head and the red head retorted, “I am not a Reaper, I am a Seeker, I look for the souls and bring back power or on other cases, look for the Souls we can bring back.”

“Have you ever tried looking for your soul?” Roxas suddenly blurted out. When he realized what he had just said, his hands flew up and clapped over his mouth, the tips of his ears going red in chagrin.

But to his relief, Axel didn’t seem to take offense to his last question, instead he only shrugged.  
“I have gone searching for all our Souls, but I haven’t had any luck.” His eyes flashed dangerously when he whispered harshly, “Xemnas killed every one that haunts this house, he knew he was losing his great power and resorted doing what he did at this hospital, when he found me, he tried to get me to crack, but I never once helped him at all.”   
His hands fell apart and clenched into fists, “when I fought back, I lost my heart and I was forced to live in a world of darkness.”

Roxas felt his throat clog up painfully, the guilt whip lashed at his chest in a painful manner and Axel finally continued, “I didn’t do anything, it was like living in a world devoid of colour, it was all grey, no emotions and just empty. I hated, well I guess I hated everybody because I remember that emotion particularly, everybody kept their distance but Zexion and Demyx continually intruded into this room and eventually befriended me about fifty or so years back.” He shrugged and finished, “Even still, I was so lost and so alone but I didn’t know what to do.”

He smiled and Roxas knew right away that it was forced then Axel said smiling lopsidedly at him, “Then you came along, I know you hate me but I didn’t-.”  
When he was distracted by something by the balcony Roxas scooted closer until he was barely a hair width away. He nudged Axel with his elbow and Axel stared at him in shock before the blonde retorted furiously, “It isn’t your fault Axel, it’s all me, I am always so afraid to let people in, I am sick of people always hurting me and my family, it’s part of the reason why we moved away.”

Axel’s face was devoid of any emotion and said in a solemn voice, “I won’t hurt you Roxas, you of all people should know that.” He had true sincerity in his voice and again Roxas found himself choking up.  
He stumbled around frantically for an answer in his head and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Axel lower his head.  
‘What could he say?’

He bit his lip and finally said in a soft voice, “I don’t hate you Axel.”  
He thought his words over carefully, “You aren’t like anything I have met before, it’s not every day that kids like myself meet Demons.”

Axel shook his head slowly, “You will come to regret it Roxas, I’m kicking myself for getting you into trouble. You seem to be prideful on the fact that you have met Demons?” he ran a hand through his tousled red hair “You could have met Demons in the Past Roxas and you would have not even known it. Demons just aren’t Tales from the Supernatural you know. Humans can be bigger Demons more than what I see of myself.”

He had a valid and reasonable point.

With a sudden Mind-Block on what to say to the Pyro Silhouette, Roxas frowned and managed to choke out, “Well, saying that in that context, I will rephrase my statement.”  
He gave a weak smile to Axel “I have never met a Silhouette before. I’m not going to lie and say that I am not afraid of you guys. But I know that most of your intentions are good and you don’t want to hurt my family or me. I’ve come to…appreciate that.” 

Axel snorted shrugging his shoulders, “except Xemnas and Saix.”  
Roxas nodded, shrugging as well when he echoed, “except Xemnas and Saix.”

He stopped in his talking to gather his thoughts then said, “I really am sorry Axel.”

He looked back to the red head with remorseful eyes and the Silhouette gazed at him with his green eyes flaming into their vivid jade colour. He smirked, quirking his mouth to the side of his face and retorted, “Even though I do not know why you are apologising to me Roxas, but-” he trailed off gently and whispered “but I forgive you.”

As the two looked at each other, Axel leant in and his hot breath singed at Roxas neck. Sapphire eyes went wide in shock but he made no inclination to move. As Axel drew nearer Roxas’ mind yelped at him, “Oh my god, he is going to kiss me.”

His eyes fluttered, his stomach knotted, suddenly Axel’s eyes flashed menacingly, and he pulled away from the blonde.  
Roxas drew back startled feeling hurt lash out at his chest and Axel snarled getting to his feet, “What do you want Zexion?”

Zexion misted through the door in black smoke and as he appeared his eyes were dark and incredibly serious, “Axel, I don’t know what to make of this, but there is a new powerful presence in Twilight Town, I can feel the power from here.”  
Axel frowned, “So what are you trying to say Zexion.”

With a slight stain across his face, Roxas peeked up at the Magician Silhouette. If he had seen anything just then between Axel and himself, he done a darn good job at hiding his emotions.  
Zexion’s one visible eye could have been able to shoot daggers, “Whoever it is…” he began coldly, looking to Axel then to Roxas then back to Axel, “It’s definitely not a human. It’s another Silhouette Axel and they’re more powerful than any of us in this House.”

*****

Sora hiked up his bag and searched the crowds of kids gathering in the hallways of the school building. The recess bell had rung 5 minutes ago and Sora had yet to catch sight of his younger brother. 

Heck he didn’t even see the giant red headed Silhouette anywhere.  
He didn’t let it bother him to much though, his mind sneered at him, “Roxas is trying to avoid you, you know exactly what he is like.”

Sora couldn’t argue with that and sighing heavily he turned on his eel and pushed his way through the groups of kids.  
“Sora, hey Sora!”

The brunette’s head jerked up at the sound of his name being called. It wasn’t his brother’s voice, it belonged to a female. He spun around and was greeted by the sight of Olette running up to him. 

Her face was slightly pink as she beamed up at him and said, “I was looking for you Sora, I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me and my friends?”   
Sora noticed that said friends didn’t accompany her but he nodded and asked while he was still in the mind frame, “Hey Olette, have you seen my brother anywhere?”

The girl was twirling one of her pigtails around her finger and she said, “Who Roxas?” she shook her head and said thoughtfully, “No, I haven’t seen him since this morning; it’s odd it’s not hard to lose people in a school as small as this.”  
Sora frowned slightly and said, “Well never mind about the twit then, if he wants me he can come and find me.”

He fixed his school bag and followed Olette who led him down the hall talking. All the while Sora kept an eye out more for the red head Silhouette that stalked his brother. But there was no sign of neither of them.

Olette led Sora outside over the small green terrace where kids were all seated in their groups. Sora copped more than a few stares as he walked past, he was the new kid. It was expected to be stared at on the first day. He ignored the stares and walked along behind Olette who had not shut her mouth since she had found him in the hall.   
Sora hadn’t been listening.  
As Olette sat down onto the grass in the shade of a large maple tree, Sora followed throwing his bag down. Olette smiled at her friends who were already there and Sora knew their names vaguely, Hayner and Pence. He was polite and said hello and started an easy conversation with the trio.

As they all talked and ate what was there of their recess, the end bell sounded and with groans of protest everybody on the terrace started to get up.  
Sora caught a glimmer of red out of the corner of his eye. His head whipped around and his mind said, “There he is.”

But as Sora fixated his gaze, where he saw the red, fear clenched his chest and he realised that it was not Axel he had seen.   
Standing there in the crowds of kids stood another man. Blackness oozed off him and he stared intently at Sora. He had a long crimson cloak on and a mane of long black hair whipped along his face. He had bright, menacing red eyes that made Sora cringe. Lastly, on the man’s right hand he wore a golden gauntlet and had long knives acting as fingers.

“Sora, hello, Sora!”   
A hand was being waved in front of his face and startled Sora looked into the concerned green eyes of Olette. She frowned and looked in the direction where Sora had been staring and asked, “Are you alright?”

Sora fumbled for an answer and stammered, “Um yeah fine, just worried about Roxas is all.” He gripped the straps of his bag and looked back to the place where that man had been.  
But he was gone.

Sora frowned and the fear remained clogged in his chest. Who had that guy been, he was definitely a Silhouette. Sora bit his lip and prayed to the skies, “Oh please let Roxas be ok.”

*****

Axel paced around the room his pale face revealing the blackened veins running up his cheeks. Roxas sat on the bed idly throwing up and down his Ipod.   
Demyx and Zexion stood on the far wall beside the doors to the balcony. Demyx gnawed on his blackish fingernails, he was clearly melting under the stress and pressure. Despite him being a Silhouette, Demyx was truly a gentle soul.

Zexion had his fingers on his chin thinking of an explanation on what power vibes he could sense.  
Roxas nearly jumped a foot in the air when the door suddenly slammed open and the other Silhouettes stalked in. Xigbar looked livid and he shouted to the direction of where Zexion was.  
“What is the go with your complaining Zexion, the mongrel has escaped yet again because you have been distracted.” 

Roxas gulped and said faintly, “Saix escaped again?”   
Larxene nodded her head slowly and Marluxia said in a firm voice, “He won’t be coming back to attack us anytime soon, Xemnas is up to something.” At Marluxia’s statement Axel spun around and snapped to Zexion, “It’s probably that bastard trying to trick us so he can murder everybody.”

Zexion glared at Axel icily and snapped back, “The power is different to Xemnas’, and it’s much more powerful.”  
“Great” Demyx moaned and Larxene said throwing her hands up in despair, “We may as well march right on up to that attic and let Xemnas kill us, if that ‘thing’ is already on his side, we may as well just give up.”

“Nobody is giving up” Xigbar barked, “We will not go down without a fight, if we work together as a team we can pull through and win this god damned thing.”   
When Xigbar said that Larxene snorted, “Pfft, like that is going to happen, we can barely tolerate each other living in the same house.”

She gestured to Demyx, “Shit for brains can’t fight” she threw her hands in Marluxia’s direction, “Marluxia can’t kill a goddamned flower and what else do we have? Two old men, a gambling addict that sees everything as a game, a defenseless human.” 

Larxene’s face was growing darker by the second as she continued to throw the insults out, “Oh and the two gorillas’ out there won’t be much help either,” she screeched.  
Then her gaze settled on Zexion, “And what are you going to do with that book huh Zexion, throwing it at people won’t be much help when we are in a fight to the death.” 

She had angered all the Silhouettes and Zexion barked, “Stop being so negative Larxene.” Demyx nodded and spat his eyes going dark, “You are a bitch, we are all trying here and you just say it’s a lost cause because you know best?”

Outside the thunder rumbled dangerously and Roxas was cringing away with the anger and hate boiling the room. So that’s how everybody saw him, a defenseless human? He began to sweat and Axel barked angrily, “Fuck, it won’t be Xemnas killing you all, it will be me.”   
His eyes went black and he roared angrily, “Get the hell out of my room!” Flames erupted from his cloak and he shouted to the other Silhouettes, “Don’t talk to me unless you can all get along, meanwhile stay away.” The flames intensified and all the Silhouettes made a beeline to the door. 

As the flames settled Demyx and Zexion remained and Demyx said, “I think you might overreact a little bit Axel.” Black eyes bored onto Demyx and a last huge fireball was thrown at them, “Get out and leave me alone as well.” Axel shouted, boy he was angry.

Zexion sighed and shook his head, he misted away with Demyx in tow.  
Roxas cowered against the pillows on his bed; he swore he could feel the hairs on his arms burning from all the flames that had engulfed the room.   
Axel swore and his eyes settled back to green when he realised that he had scared the hell out of Roxas. 

Instantly his eyes became ashamed and he said, “I’m sorry Roxas.”   
He lifted his arms out, his fingers splayed as he drew them down the air. Suddenly there was a bright golden light, Roxas saw a black void swirling with purple behind an almost transparent, golden veil and Axel disappeared moments later.

Roxas was left alone in his bedroom and he felt the adrenaline pounding in his legs with his mind screeching, “Run, run away from this mess.” He took in several deep gasps and unfurled his legs from his chest. His eyes were drawn to the covers of his bed and he saw a trail of golden dust.

It glinted in the gloomy light and Roxas leant forward and touched it tentatively with his finger. It stuck to his fingers and oddly felt wonderfully warm. He frowned at the substance and then with both hands he scooped the tiny pile of dust up. 

It glittered in his hands and Roxas gasped when the dust disappeared as it fell from his fingers. He separated his hands and there was no sign that the golden dust had been there.   
Roxas frowned then looked at his hands and with shock filling him he saw his hands glittering gold. He in took a sharp breath and rubbed his hands together but it was still there. 

He leapt from his bed and ran down the hallway to the bathroom. He raced over to the sink and ran the tap. He grabbed the soap and rubbed his hands until they stung. He drew them away; when he dried them he saw that his hands were still glittering gold. It was as if the soft golden dust had stained them, they sparkled as he moved them around, he murmured, “Fuck, how am I going to hide this?”

He walked out of the bathroom gazing at his hands before he made the decision to go outside and get some fresh air. He walked down the hallway and stomped down the stairs making sure to hide his hands when he walked past his Mother.  
He made it to the front door and walked out onto the balcony into the crisp air of the gloomy day outside.

_“Oh my, Riku! Riku Roxas has golden hands is that a sign of ‘them’?_   
_“I don’t know Kairi, I’ll go find Zack and see if he knows.”_   
_“There’s no need to be worried about the golden hands, I know exactly what’s happening.”_   
_“What’s the go Naminé?”_   
_“Well if you haven’t noticed, Axel has golden hands as well.”_   
_“So that means-?”_   
_“Roxas is able to go to the ‘In Between’.”_   
_“I think that might be worse.”_   
_“You’re right, how much dangers can one human get himself into without knowing it?”_

Roxas wandered over the green grass of the terrace looking at the trees that loomed above him in the mansions grounds. They were massive and Roxas wondered how old those trees could be. 

He walked towards them, looked up and saw that the top branches intertwined. It could have been a great escape from the dangers on the ground.  
Roxas continued to walk until he hit the wall on the far right side; he walked along it around the back of the house.

He paused when he was directly behind it. He looked up and saw a tiny circular window where the attic was. It was only very small. Trailing directly from it was a long line of black. It looked like it had been spilled from the window and fell right down the brick and onto the grass. The grass had died in a small circle on that part of the house. 

Frowning Roxas walked towards the house and tentatively touched the trail of black and drew away when he found the black stuff was liquid and it was wet. Almost tar like.  
Roxas grimaced and looked at his blackened fingers in disgust and bent down to the grass to wipe the greasy black off.

He watched as the grass instantly died under his fingers and scrambling back, the blonde made sure that he didn’t have any of that stuff remaining on his fingers.   
Walking on, Roxas debated whether he should go back inside. His senses started to tingle when he reached the left side of the house and saw that the wall had been destroyed and had disintegrated over the years.

The dark forest lay in front of him and an eerie cold breeze came whistling through the trees making Roxas shiver. The trees almost seemed to be moaning and the shadows darted here and there.  
Roxas took a step back and decided that he would go back to the house. He didn’t want to show whoever was in the forest that he was afraid. 

He folded his hands along his chest and stomped over the springy green grass when his senses suddenly screeched at him all at once:  
Danger, Danger, DANGER.  
Roxas spun around and his legs clenched in pain as the adrenaline raced to them ready to take flight. From the shadows raced a figure, like a phantom. As it hit the light of the grey clouds it solidified and fell to the ground.  
The black mist cleared away and Roxas saw with horror that it was Saix. 

The blue haired, demonic Silhouette lay passed out on the grass. Black cascaded from his black cloak and with sick terror Roxas saw that he was bleeding.   
The mongrel Silhouette who had just attacked them earlier on in the morning lay battered on the ground. He had been literally ripped apart. 

Roxas knew that Silhouettes could regenerate themselves unless Saix got them. But a much more dangerous Demon had ripped Saix to shreds. Nobody else other than another Silhouette could do that.

Roxas scrambled back and fell over his own feet when Saix went to get up.  
Without realising it Roxas started to yell hysterically, “Axel, Axel.”  
His pleas echoed throughout the forest, Saix got to his feet and Roxas saw that his battered scarred face was even more battered. His face was barely recognisable except the yellow eyes stared back under the blackened face.   
His face had almost been torn off.

Roxas scrambled to his feet and Saix had barely taken a step when there was a gush of warm air and Roxas was pushed behind the tall figure of Axel.  
It only took Axel a second to straightened and all he breathed was,   
“Who in the hell done that?”


	14. The Conflict Between the Spirits and the Silhouettes

Sora ran as fast as he could from the front gates of the school when the dismissal bell rung. He had picked up his bag and not even caring to wait for his new friends or get books from his locker.  
He just ran.

Roxas had definitely not been at school and the brunette brother had been overwhelmed with emotions of panic and dread.  
The minute he got in that door he would instantly be blaming that red headed Silhouette for being careless with his little brother.

Sora ran through the cobbled streets, through the crowds of people and the jumping over the tram tracks. He didn’t dare stop even though his legs stung and his lungs were constricted.  
He ran and ran until he reached the back wall of Twilight Town and saw the small opening to the forest beyond. The forest that led right to his house.  
Sora didn’t even think as he ran through the foliage and the shrubbery. 

As he slowed down, the hair at the back of his neck started to prickle and Sora heard a large eerie howl echo throughout the trees. A wind whipped through the canopy and cursing to himself Sora thought, ‘Fuck, I didn’t think about those bastards’.   
Without thinking, Sora stopped and spun around to see the empty forest behind him. Of course there wouldn’t be anybody when ‘they’ were shadow creatures.  
Sora held in his breath, turned on his heels, and forced himself to walk back through the prickly shrubs and ferns.

The birds sang to each other in the treetops and the occasional rustle was heard, alarming and frazzling Sora’s nerves even more.   
When the break in the trees came Sora saw the glow of the sun and the sidewall of the mansion he called his home. His forced steady pace broke back into a run and Sora sprinted over the green terrace to the front porch of his house.

He jumped up the two front large steps and as expected the door swung open for him. He barricaded in and was greeted by the sad looking, ghostly figure of Naminé. Her eyes widened when Sora came in wild eyed and she said alarmed:  
“Sora, what is the-?” 

Sora gasped for breath and hurried to the stairs, “Roxas, where is he?”  
Naminé misted in front of him and said, “Roxas came home this morning, Sora, something went wrong with the Silhouettes, you have to talk to Riku, immediately!”

“No” Sora murmured throwing his bag down, “I have to see my brother.”  
Naminé shrilly exclaimed on the way up to the stairs, “Sora, you imbecile! Riku you have to talk to him, we have a war-.”

“Oh shut up Naminé” Sora snapped and reaching the hallway, he ignored the boundary line to the Silhouettes and stormed his way into Roxas’ room. The door slammed open with a bang and Sora saw his brother on his bed.  
Roxas looked pale and more like a ghost every day, but when Sora stormed in Roxas said in an alarmed voice, “Sora, what are doing here?” he looked around frantically and whispered, “You need to get out of here."

*****

Roxas glanced around his room when Sora came bursting through like a maniac. His brother was pink in the face and he was gasping for breath. He would have run all the way home.  
Roxas felt guilt churn his stomach and Sora sat down on the bed beside him and said, “Where did you go today Roxas, I was worried out of my brain for you.” Roxas snapped sarcastically, “You don’t care any other time Sora, why now? You were the one usually teasing me with your posse.”

Roxas scowled and Sora said helplessly, holding out his arm uselessly “I didn’t know any of this existed Roxas, now that we are both tied into this I can’t help but worry.”  
Sora felt the heat rising in the room and he said urgently getting to his feet “Roxas, I saw a man today at the school, he seemed to be one of those ‘Silhouettes’, I think he is here because we are in this damned house.”

Roxas’ sapphire eyes widened and Sora spun around and yelped in shock when he nearly ran headlong into the chest of the Silhouette Axel.  
Sora jumped all the way back to the bed watching Axel in fear and the red head’s eyes flashed and he barked in a rough hoarse voice, “What the hell are you on about?”  
Roxas got to his feet also and said in a panicked voice, “Axel, don’t hurt him, he was here telling me about something.”

Axel scowled heavily and he hissed, “What do you know about this ‘Silhouette’?”  
Sora gaped like a fish and shook his head in a frantic way, “n-nothing” he squeaked and Roxas said in a stern voice, “Axel, don’t!”  
The red head looked at Roxas then back to Sora and said in a rough voice, “Get out, you are lucky I don’t tear you to shreds.”

Roxas looked to Sora and pleaded with his eyes for his brother to leave and Sora bloody well obeyed.  
But when he stepped out into the hallway there was a gust of shadows running down the wooden floorboards and Sora saw a large Silhouette with wicked scars running towards him with fangs bared sharp.

Sora yelped in fear and ran to the other side and he saw the Silhouette smash up against the invisible barrier. He looked right into Sora’s eyes and he said in a soft menacing voice “You are lucky I didn’t get you little Spirit human, next time I will make sure I get my claws into you.” Sora felt a large tremor run up his spine and he ran to his room and slammed the door shut. 

*****

Riku didn’t look amused when Sora slid down his door and fell to the floor with a thud. The silver haired ghost exclaimed in an annoyed voice, “Why don’t you listen Sora? I swear you are the biggest idiot I ever come across, why do that? You know they will kill you.”

Sora looked to his friend and he said “Riku, my brother went missing then I met some stranger at the school staring at me?” he got to his feet and walked to the bathroom and Riku shouted walking after him, “Exactly! Don’t act stupidly Sora. We don’t know who this stranger is, he appeared after the fight and it’s not going to be the end.”

Sora spun around and he glared at Riku with his eyes narrowed, “Fight? What fight?”  
Riku had a grim look on his face and he said in a flat voice, “Saix attacked this morning and took out most of the Silhouettes, Axel and Roxas turned up and managed to subdue him long enough until the Magician Silhouette got his magic. That’s why Roxas left school.”

Sora frowned and Riku said in a louder voice, “Then not long ago, Roxas stumbled upon Saix again, but he had been ripped apart, Sora this is Saix we are talking about. That’s why we have to be careful.”   
Sora stopped his route to the bathroom and said, “Why am I not notified about this shit Riku, we just can’t stand back and let this Xemnas demon get better of us, or this ‘stranger.”   
He stomped past his open window and stopped when a flash of red caught the corner of his eye. 

Riku went silent, Sora slowly turned his head, and over the wall just in the trees, he saw the same person he had seen at school walking in the trees. He stopped then misted through the heavy concrete wall and Sora gasped and threw himself against the wall and whispered in fright, “That’s him, that’s the guy I saw.”  
Sora started to gasp and his chest started to heave. Riku darted right across the room with the usual clattering of footsteps and Sora dared peek out and look out his window the tiniest fraction.

Sora nearly died of a heart attack when he saw the man in red perched on the small ledge outside his window. He was right at his window.  
The red Silhouette hissed and his teeth were longer and more menacing than those in the house. Sora screamed, yes he screamed and he ran for his door fumbling with the handle before falling into the hallway and slipping in his shoes he raced for the stairs.

Roxas threw open his door to see his brother running down the stairs and he yelled out, “Sora, Sora.” The blonde spun around and yelled, “Axel, what going on?”

Sora darted from the stairs and jumped when through the kitchen windows he saw the man in red again.   
He was following him.  
He stared at Sora with blood red eyes on the other side of the glass and Sora was just about to drop right onto the floor. He didn’t know what to do.   
Sora backed further from the kitchen and to the sitting area that was located in the territory of the Silhouettes. His shoes hit the mat, Roxas flew down the stairs only to be yanked back by Axel, and they ran into Sora.

…

Roxas yelped when he saw the stranger outside the kitchen window and Axel hissed menacingly and the flames erupted around him. Roxas was mildly shocked when they didn’t burn or hurt him. 

Both brothers and Silhouette backed away when the man in red misted from outside into the inside of the house into the kitchen. The power of the Spirits didn’t even affect this Silhouette.  
All in a split second all the Silhouettes, bar Lexaeus and Xaldin were in the lounge room eyeing off and ready to defend against this new threat. Sora stumbled back into Roxas who looked up at Axel and exclaimed, “Axel who is that?”

He didn’t receive an answer and Sora saw his Spirit friends all standing in the hall, they wouldn’t be able to attack this threat.  
Power oozed off this man in waves and consumed every human, ghost or demon in the room.   
“What do you want?” Axel finally shouted angrily standing in a defensive stance. He watched the stranger critically and without saying a word the man lifted his golden clawed hand and pointed right at Roxas.

Roxas felt his heart drop to his feet and Axel growled menacingly along with Demyx and Zexion. “I would like to see you try” Demyx shouted and as everybody made a move to attack there was a rattle at the door.  
The front door swung open letting in the gloomy light. Sora and Roxas stood straight and tried to wipe the fear from their face as Aerith walked in clutching her purse followed by Cloud.

The red clad Silhouette vanished in a plume of shadowy smoke, all the Silhouettes backed away to the other side of the lounge room watching wearily, and Axel stood right at Roxas’ side.

Aerith went to the kitchen counter and placed her purse down looking paler and Sora asked in a concerned voice, “Mum are you ok?”   
Roxas frowned, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going out Mum? You said you were fine!”  
Cloud cast his son’s a sharp glare which shut them both up and Sora lurched forward stumbling back into the kitchen when Axel roughly pushed him. His green eyes were dark with loathe and they flashed when Riku went to Sora’s side and glared at Axel and Roxas in disdain.

Aerith shivered and whispered, “Its a little cold in here, honey why don’t we go sit down?” she looked at Cloud and he nodded and led Aerith down to the lounge and sat her down.  
Roxas spun around trying to look around Axel and he demanded, “Mum, what’s going on, is it with what happened today?”

Sora glanced wide eyes at his brother then to his mother then back to Roxas and asked in a shocked angry voice, “What happened?”  
Roxas scowled and he snapped without looking to Sora, “Mum had fainted on the front porch today and she was acting funny all morning, she said she was on medication which we all know she isn’t-”

Roxas was cut off by Cloud who said in a stern voice, “Cut it out and let your Mother gather her thoughts together.”  
Roxas folded his arms and snapped, “I’m not leaving until I get an answer.” He shrugged off Axel’s hand that fell on his shoulder and Axel whispered leaning over so Roxas would listen to him, “Roxas, don’t push it, I don’t think you don’t want to-”   
Roxas didn’t glance at him and he barked roughly, “Just Shut-up.”

Cloud stood straight, looked directly at his youngest son, and shouted, “Excuse me?”  
Roxas felt his gut tighten but he said in a soft voice now, “Tell me what is going on?” Cloud strode over and stood over Roxas and he said, “Roxas with that fucking attitude of yours I don’t know why we would tell you, you ungrateful little ingrate.”  
Axel growled menacingly ready to yank Roxas away from the father and Sora pleaded, “Dad, Roxas cut it out, we can’t fight.”

The older brother was ignored and the conflict between father and son was abruptly cut off when Aerith got up to her feet and shrilly shouted, “Stop it, just stop.” She glared at her husband and her son and then said in a hushed voice, “I will tell you if you just stop fighting.” She nodded at Cloud and she said looking at her son’s. 

“Your Father and I have just been to the doctor, Roxas picked up on my white lies and I have been feeling a little ill of late.” She looked at Sora then to Roxas and bit her lip, her large green eyes worried. “U-uh boys I have to tell you-.”

Roxas unfurled his arms and he said, “Oh Mum don’t-” he looked up to Axel briefly who had a stern face and Aerith sighed and finally said, “Boys,” she trailed off before adding “I’m pregnant.”

…

Roxas’ face fell and Sora said, “No, you-you can’t be, Mum you don’t understand just-” Sora was lost for words and looked to Riku desperately and Roxas still hadn’t said anything. He stared at his mother emotionless and these weren’t the actions Aerith had expected from her boys and took it the wrong way.  
“You aren’t happy for me?” she asked, her face drew into a frown “I knew you wouldn’t care, both of you, selfish you two are.” 

Her eyes filled with tears and Cloud went to her and embraced her and still not talking Roxas turned towards the stairs and walked towards them without saying a word.  
When they reached the stairs Axel said with a smirk on his face, “That’s pretty harsh Roxas, leaving your mother hang like that!” they walked up and Sora stomped up after them and snapped more so at Axel, “Shut up you demon, you are the reason I’m worried.”

Axel turned around lazily and walked up the stairs lazily fixating his gaze on the brunette, “Oh no, I knew right away, but I’m not the one to be worried about.” They all reached the hall and Riku said in scorn, “I hate to agree with you but Xemnas is more of a threat and with this stranger.”   
He shook his ghostly head of silver hair and Roxas said in a low voice finally speaking, “I don’t know how to feel, why does everything have to be so hard?”  
He went to his bedroom door when there was a gush of warm air and Demyx appeared with Larxene and Marluxia, the pink haired Silhouette clapped his hands together and looked down to Roxas and asked in an excited voice, “Aren’t you happy for your mother Roxas, I’m so glad for her!”

Larxene rolled her eyes and Demyx said in a low voice, “You made her upset Roxas, are you worried that we will hurt her?” his face instantly looked hurt and Roxas said in a flat voice, “Everything is just going so wrong, what about Xemnas and Saix, or that red Silhouette.“  
Roxas looked to Sora and said, “You can’t hide your ghosts forever either Sora” he hesitated and said “and I just can’t get up and leave this house either.” He looked up at Axel who gave him a soft smile before turning his gaze back to the crowd gathering in the hall. 

Zexion appeared with a stern look on his face and Sora snapped, “Well what do we do? We all hate each other here and with that bastard biding his time up there we can’t exactly team up and fight side by side.”

Axel snorted nodding his head and Zexion said, “He speaks sense you know, it will be like putting a cat and a dog together, the enmity runs too deep.”  
Riku glared daggers and snapped, “Well I wouldn’t have such a problem if you weren’t all bloodthirsty Demons.”

“Oh says the transparent sheet!” Larxene shrieked and Demyx pouted, “Come over here and say that.” The Silhouettes started to get angry and the veins started running down their cheeks.  
Roxas folded his arms and Sora said glaring at his brother, “Put your dogs on a leash Roxas.” The Blonde scowled and snapped back at Sora, “why you scared?” the sarcasm dripped from his voice and as the tension rose more Spirits came and closely followed by Silhouettes and they were all crowded in the hallway.

Naminé tugged on Sora’s arm hiding behind him when she saw her sister. “I don’t want a fight,” she whispered and Kairi hissed at Riku, “Why don’t you keep your mouth shut Riku?” The red head looked up when Leon and Zack came down the hall and stood in front of Sora and Axel sneered, “Oh look, he needs his bodyguards because he is scared of the dogs.”

He laughed menacingly showing his fangs and Zexion snapped, “Axel do not aggravate them further, the parents are down stairs-.” The smaller Silhouette was simply brushed off and Axel taunted Sora, “Don’t you want to admit that your little brother is stronger than you huh?”

Sora scowled and he pushed through his ghostly friends and said accusingly, “Oh just because he has a demonic sidekick? Roxas knows he can’t do anything.” Sora was able to feel the insult stinging his tongue but before he could pull himself back he had said it; “Roxas is the little gay girl, he can’t fight back” he waved his hand and he smirked “I bet he had already thrown himself at the Demon fuck over there.”

The sting hurt Roxas and he shouted furiously “How dare you, that isn’t true, I fucking hate you Sora, I’ll kill you.”  
Roxas lunged at Sora, tackled him against the wall, and hit him in the stomach. Sora wrestled with him to get him off and everything moved far too fast for the humans to comprehend.

Roxas was lifted up off the ground by the brawny brunette spirit Leon and thrown down on the other side of the hall with a nasty black and blue colour tainting his arm and he cried out in pain.

Axel, feeling Roxas’ pain roared out in defence. Fire seemed to erupt from him; the hall was alight in a furious red fire. With black tainting his face, Axel lunged forward. His arms broke the Spirit barrier with a metallic shriek and grabbed Leon with rough hands, he began to drag Leon towards him and the other waiting Silhouettes.

Axel’s fingers protruded black claws and he ripped into the ghostly Leon.   
There was a high keening wail that sounded right through the house and icy blasts of wind and fiery warm air cascaded down the hall.  
Sora was shouting in horror and the Silhouettes all howled and laughed as Axel tore right through Leon with black claws. His jade green eyes had gone pitch black and he roared, “You did the WRONG move attacking him! I will kill you!”

All the Spirits raced to the border and Naminé pleaded to one Silhouette, forgetting her hesitation and fear, “Larxene, please stop him, please.”   
Her large sad eyes grew larger, Larxene glanced briefly at her sister, and her eyes grew round with pity before she whispered haggardly, “I’m sorry Nami  
Larxene stepped back, she disappeared from the hallway, and the ghost under Axel’s arm disappeared in a haze of white smoke.   
Axel had killed the Spirit Leon.

Sora got to his feet and he shouted, “You fucking bastard, dirty filthy Demon, good for nothing-.”   
He didn’t stop shouting even when Aerith and Cloud came running up the stairs. Sora and Roxas didn’t see their parents because all the Silhouettes were crowded around them.

Sora shouted at Axel, “Oh I would get my hands on you I will tear you apart.”   
Riku held him back and Roxas shouted stomping over the floorboards, “Don’t talk to him like that.”  
Axel smirked and mocked Sora’s angry voice then added laughing, “Oh is the little human angry now? What is he going to do with the great big scary Silhouette?”  
Roxas held out his now black and blue arm and shouted, “Your stupid Ghosts done that Sora! They attacked me first! Axel was defending me!”

“You blame my side?” Sora shouted furiously “You know nothing of their pain, just because you were roped onto the side with those dirty Demons, you have the hide to blame me?”

The blonde looked up at Axel and said, “Axel they aren’t worth it,” he tugged on Axel’s arm growling, “Come on, we have bigger problems to be dealing with.” As he tugged on Axel’s sleeve, he said “Zexion, Demyx, we need to speak to you as well.”

Axel glared at Sora hatefully and sent a plume of fire at the barrier and shouted, “Come near any of us again and I will make sure it will be you I will be killing next time.”

As the pair walked towards Roxas’ room, Sora yelled, “Come on then you Demonic bastard, I look forward to it! I don’t want you hiding behind that posse of yours.”  
Everything in the hall froze when Aerith finally asked in an uncertain voice, “Who were you boys shouting at?”

Roxas froze at his door and Sora shouted, “Tell Roxas that he is a filthy, fucking fag.” He went to his bedroom. He paused momentarily before yanking his arm away and snapped “My fault? Lay off it Riku, did you see what just happened?” He slammed the door shut and Roxas done the same into his bedroom.

Cloud was frowning and he demanded, “What the hell was that about, I should pull them both out and demand what happened?” He started to make a move towards Sora’s bedroom and that’s where against the wall Zexion hissed to Marluxia, “Do something.”  
Marluxia jumped to Aerith and started to whisper in her ear,  
“They are boys, Sora made fun of Roxas again and you know how Roxas is!”  
Aerith bit her lip and she gestured Cloud away, “leave them alone for now Honey” she frowned as they turned towards the stairs and she added, “But I will get my answers sooner or later. From everybody.”


	15. Revealed

As Aerith left, Zexion snapped his head to Marluxia, his eyes going hard and steely. “What did you do Marluxia?”   
The pink haired Silhouette cringed away. Xigbar threw his hand out and said harshly, “I knew the idiot wouldn’t be able to help himself! Why Marluxia?”

All the Silhouettes glared at Marluxia spitefully and he finally said in an adamant voice, “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t see you guys, otherwise she would be terrified, don’t get mad at me.”

Demyx bit his lip. “But Marly, you always try to befriend anybody that moves into the house, you done it thirty years ago and looked what happened! I can still see the bloodstains running down those stairs, are you aiming to get this family killed as well?” he asked.

Luxord pulled a card from his sleeve and flipped it around. It revealed the tarot card the flaming tower and he said simply, “We cannot stop what is going to happen, it is simply inevitable, we either die, fight or die fighting.”

Demyx cringed up against Zexion and said in a whiny voice, “I don’t like any of those options, what happened to running away and hiding?” Zexion turned his head to stare at Demyx, his hard tone softened down a bit; it always did when he spoke to Demyx.  
“We aren’t like that Demyx; we will defend what is ours.”

Xigbar snorted and started to make his way down the stairs and said, “Well we may fight, but I don’t think Axel will.” He took a step. “With Roxas now, Axel will be more intent on hiding than anything else, if you ask me, I think we have already lost this battle.”

*****

Roxas paced along his room with his fingers fisting his golden mess of spikes. “I can’t believe this! I had so jinxed myself, now Mum is pregnant; Gods know what danger that can put her in.”   
He dropped his hands in frustration and groaned, “Axel, what can we do? If I tell the truth my parents won’t believe me and if I lie it can be the end of my entire family!”   
Roxas felt the panic choking him, “What did we ever do to get into this mess? Now Mum won’t talk to me and Dad is fucking pissed, and that’s the least of my problems.”

Roxas strode around with his thoughts in a whirl and he didn’t know what to think or even comprehend, hell he didn’t even think that Axel was even in the room listening to his rant. 

Finally, Roxas stopped at his window leading onto the balcony and stared out over the green terrace. Eventually Axel came up behind him and whispered down into his ear.  
“I’m more worried about keeping you safe Roxas” he whispered, “I’ll tell you that this isn’t in my nature to be kind, but you have to heed me out Roxas.” The red head took a step back “You’re worried about your family, to be honest; I don’t care what happens to them. I’m worried about you, if I was to lose you, hell would freeze over and I will die right alongside you.”

Roxas was hit by the thought of losing Axel and unexpectedly it stung his heart.   
Roxas blanched; he barely knew Axel and already the thought of him being gone hurt like hell.  
Without looking up Roxas said, still staring out into space, “What do you suggest we do Axel? I know that I’m not going to hide.”

The red head made a noise of protest. “But its maybe your best option Roxas, look at this mess! These bastards are after you - I can’t let that happen.”   
Roxas turned around slowly and looked up at Axel. His face was grim and devoid of any emotion but his eyes betrayed his concern.   
“Roxas,” he said, “I need you to trust me, that you will leave everything to me and that I will protect you.”  
His eyes flashed and he added, “You need to trust me with your life Roxas, I-I may only be a Demon that despises your brother and doesn’t really care what happens to your parents, but when I give my word, I mean it.”

Roxas noted the desperation in his voice. “I trust you Axel, but you have to promise me that you will not harm my brother, my parents and hell, please don’t kill any more of my brothers Ghosts or any of the other Silhouettes, they will help you Axel, just stop pushing them away,” he said softly.

Axel hesitated and growled, “Look at what those Spirits done to you Roxas; I should rip them all apart.” He glared hatefully at the blonde’s multi-coloured arm and Roxas joked weakly, “Payback for burning Sora’s feet huh?”  
Axel didn’t smile or even smirk and Roxas said, “Promise me.”   
Axel’s eyes went dark as he said almost scornfully, “It’s hard like that Roxas, you don’t understand how much we hate each other.”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Roxas whispered, “Will you try Axel?”  
When he didn’t get an answer he urged, “Will you?”

Axel finally nodded. Roxas raked his fingers through his golden locks when Axel’s eyes widened and his hand shot out and grabbed one of Roxas’. He turned it palm up and saw the glittering hand. His eyes shone when he looked at Roxas before quickly before being replaced by a look of worry, “Why didn’t you show this to me Roxas?” he asked quietly.   
Roxas shrugged and protested, “Well it really didn’t occur to me when this stranger shows up and Saix appears to me ripped to shreds.”

Axel stared at Roxas’ glittery hands. “Do you know what this means Roxas?” he whispered. He looked into the sapphire eyes of the blonde and said in an almost defeated voice,   
“You have the ability to travel to the ‘In-Between’.” With an exasperated sigh, Axel dropped Roxas’ hands and rubbed his pale face tiredly “This means that Xemnas will have his leverage and he will try harder to get you.”

Roxas lifted both his hands up and picked up one of Axel’s gloved hands, gently peeling the glove off. Axel watched Roxas curiously through veiled eyes as the blonde held up Axel’s hand and saw that it was also glittery like his own.  
Then much to Axel’s downright surprise, Roxas laced his fingers in between his and held their hands together in the air. 

Axel stepped closer, closing the gap between them and Roxas whispered, “At least we can both do the same thing to try and fight against Xemnas,” Axel chuckled. “I won’t let you do the fighting Roxas, as long as you’re safe I will be alright.”   
Roxas stared up at Axel and let go of his hand only to throw his arms around Axel’s waist, “You underestimate me Axel,” he said in a dry voice. “But since you are stuck with me, you will have to learn that the hard way.”

Axel laughed aloud, wrapped his incredibly long arms around Roxas and said, “I never learn Roxas, I just act.”  
They stood there in an almost comfortable embrace and Axel tried so hard not to listen to the taunts coming from the attic, the taunts that only he could hear.

*****

“You said that they couldn’t get through the barriers!” Sora shouted as he stomped around his room. Riku sat on his bed flanked by Kairi and Naminé. Sora tousled his brunette spikes up and said, “The Silhouettes are monsters, and Roxas willingly chooses to be with them! What the hell does he see in them?”

Riku exclaimed from his bed, “they are Demons from hell Sora, what do you expect? But I am not a mind reader and I have no idea what is going through your brother’s head.”  
Sora continued to pace around and then he snapped, “It’s that Axel. He corrupted my little brother, turned him to the darkness.”

“He bit him,” Kairi said in disdain. “Sora you have seen that disgusting, ugly scar running down Roxas’ neck - it’s not like the poor kid can get away.”  
“Don’t sympathise with him Kai,” Riku warned. “We can’t underestimate what powers Roxas will have and you saw before with that larger Silhouette, he wants Roxas for a reason, it’s not like Xemnas’ attempts at all.”

Naminé hugged herself tightly and whispered, “But how will Axel react?”  
“I hate him,” Sora interjected.  
Naminé shook her head at Sora’s remarks and she continued in a wavering but determined voice, “Axel sees something in Roxas, don’t you guys see that? He acts tender and caring towards him.”

Kairi snorted as Naminé unfurled her arms, putting them either side of her. “Axel loves Roxas, Roxas may not see it yet, but I haven’t seen Axel act like that in over a century.” She said looking around exasperatedly. “If you guys keep talking about taking Roxas away from Axel, you don’t know what danger that is putting us all into.”  
She begged anyone to agree with her but she simply frowned when Riku said, “It was a mistake on ever letting Roxas go to them.”

Sora leant against his window and stared at his three ghostly friends then said, “It’s only a few Silhouettes that you despise Riku, if everything goes to shit would you ever consider helping some of the others out?”  
He shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t met all of them, but what about that pink haired one that hangs with mum or that goofy one that walks around with the short one?” he looked to Riku then to Naminé, “What about your sister Naminé, would she ever consider helping us?”

Naminé’s eyes grew painstakingly sad again. “I don’t know, Larxene doesn’t have much to do with the other Silhouettes but they are more her family than what I am,” she murmured in a teary voice.

Riku sighed and said to the blonde haired girl beside him, “Don’t get yourself worked up Nami, we have had this conversation many times, we are here for you no matter what.”  
Sora came over and he said, “Naminé, come on you don’t have to act all depressed like my brother, Riku is right and I promise you that I will be here for you as well.”  
Naminé smiled up at Sora then suddenly her face dropped and the four people in the room turned towards the door when it opened. 

Aerith popped her head in and said, “Sora, you have a visitor.”   
She opened the door wider and Olette came in with a bright smile on her face. “Hello Sora, I thought I might come and say hello, you ran off after school today and I didn’t get a chance to speak to you,” she said.

Aerith shut the door behind her and Sora leant away from the bed from where the three ghosts were perched. Olette looked around his messy room. “Who were you talking to Sora?” she asked.

Sora stood straight and said rather quickly, “Myself! Yeah, um… I was talking to myself - I do it all the time.” He smiled sheepishly and Olette folded her arms behind her back and looked around the room again.

Sora regained himself from his initial shock and said quickly, “Oh shit, um sorry Olette, my room is a mess I haven’t really finished unpacking and damn, I’m sorry.”  
Olette giggled slightly and walked to Sora’s bed that had been made by Riku, “mind if I sit down?” Sora didn’t have time to reply and all he saw were Kairi and Naminé scoot away and Olette sat right on top of Riku.

The look of outrage made Sora laugh aloud but his face fell back when Olette looked back at him quizzically. “What’s so funny?” she asked, confused.  
She shivered visibly then said, “Wow it’s chilly in here, do you have air con or something, Sora?”  
Sora picked some things up off the floor and tossed them back to the boxes stacked in the corner. He looked back up when Olette said, “So did you end up finding Roxas?” He snorted. 

“Yeah, he came home this morning and got caught by Mum. He’s been in his room sulking all day,” he told her.  
Sora straightened out as he saw more and more spirits gazing in curiously. Riku walked through Olette, scoffing to Sora. “How rude, impolite, impervious, selfish, uh- hmm…” he held out his hand.   
“Bitch, Riku,” Kairi added helpfully.

Riku glanced at her saying, “I don’t like that word, but yes, she is.”  
Sora tried so hard to bite back a smile. “Come on Olette I will show you around.” He went to the door.

“Alright, I would be delighted to!” she said bouncing up off the bed.  
She followed Sora and he shut the door on an outraged Riku with a smiling Kairi and Naminé behind him.

As Sora went out into the hallway, he stopped momentarily when he saw the younger Silhouette, the one with the crazy Mohawk, leaning against the wall right next to the stairs. He stared at Sora then glanced at Olette and a smile stretched across his face. Sora scowled at him and Olette was still very oblivious.

They turned around and Sora said casually, “There are a lot of spare, empty, dusty rooms down the hall, Mum and Dad’s room, the bathroom and Roxas’ room is just there.”   
He turned around as Olette said, “Why don’t we go say hello, I feel slack not doing that.” She walked across the hall and Sora said in an almost panicked voice, “Don’t! Um, I mean Roxas gets pissed if you walk in on him. He will come down eventually, and um we will just leave him alone.”

He pulled Olette back to the ‘safe’ side and walked down the stairs. “Alright, kitchen is there, lounge room and there is an entertainment room down there behind the Sitting room. You’d think for a Mansion it will be massive but it isn’t really.”

He chuckled as he walked down and Olette said thoughtfully, “Well it used to be a Psychiatric Hospital back in the day, over a century ago. I have seen pictures. They must have cut away the eastern and western wings.”

Sora leant against the kitchen island bar and asked, “Do you want a drink or anything Olette?” He walked around the bar and opened the fridge then shut it again when there were loud thuds that came thundering down the stairs.  
Roxas appeared and he went right into the lounge room and held up his hands “Sora, throw us a can over here please.”

Sora sighed, reopened the fridge, grabbed a can of coke, and threw it over the island bar and Roxas caught it deftly.  
Olette sat on a stool and said eyeing Roxas, “Why don’t you get it yourself?”  
Roxas flopped back on the lounge, cracked the tab and said casually, “Can’t.”  
Olette frowned. “Why?”

“Don’t want to,” Roxas replied and he took a large gulp of the coke.  
When he pulled the can away, he hit his hand over his shoulder and shouted quickly, “Fuck off. Stop it.”

Sora bit the inside of his lip as he saw Axel leaning over the lounge and done something to Roxas’ ear causing him to snap.  
Olette raised a brow and Sora said shutting the fridge, “Roxas is a tart, Olette, don’t mind him.” He walked back around the kitchen and went to the front door gesturing to Olette, “Let’s go outside, I will show you around the terraces.”  
Olette got up and she smiled. “Alright, maybe we can find some things that were here back when this house was a Hospital?”

Sora rolled his eyes as Roxas snorted, “Oh you will find them everywhere.”  
Sora went out the front door and made sure to flip his brother the bird, as Olette went out to the porch and he slammed the door shut.

…

Axel stood straight as the door shut and Demyx came hurtling down the stairs grinning. “I never knew your brother had a girlfriend, pretty please can I have some fun?”   
Roxas got up and said, “Demyx, you don’t have the guts to do anything scary. Anyway I say no.”  
“Oh-ho, who put Shorty in charge here?” Xigbar said striding in with his one yellow eye sharp.  
Roxas folded his arms, “They’re my family.”   
Xigbar snorted, “It’s our turf. You don’t have any right to be ordering us around here, kiddo,” he loomed over to Roxas and held a sharp black claw to Roxas’ throat. “I can do this ever so easily, does it make you realise how weak you are?” 

He chuckled when Axel shot around and knocked him away and Roxas looked at Xigbar with wide eyes. The scarred Silhouette flicked the shadows from his hand, which went back to normal. “We aren’t all Angels here kid, you don’t put your trust in us to be good. We are Demons and like all Demons we like the sight of blood and the thrill of a kill.”

He went towards the door and misted out of sight and Demyx blinked then looked back to Roxas. “Please, just a little spook here or there, I won’t get out of hand, I promise.” He clapped his hands together and Roxas simply sighed ready to say no, but Demyx jumped up and shouted, grinning. “Ha-ha! I take that as a yes; I will go tell the others it’s ok!”

He ran back towards the stairs and Roxas spluttered, “T-the others? Demyx you never said anything about the ‘others’!”  
He looked back to Axel who was simply gazing at his fingers. He shrugged. “With Demyx, ‘I’ means ‘Everybody’ Roxas, don’t get sucked into that again.”   
He chuckled and Roxas scowled. “It’s only some fun, we won’t kill them, we did the same to you.”

Roxas gazed back towards the door and he said, “I’m not worried about them screwing around, it’s just what Sora will do when he snaps.” Axel laughed and held out his hand. “I don’t want to miss out on this; Luxord comes up with the funniest tricks.”   
Roxas stared at the hand before Axel said, “You need to disappear Roxas, come on, take my hand.”  
Roxas reached out and took Axel’s hand and the shadows washed up over him and Axel whispered in his ear, “It’s alright Roxas, I’m right here.”

*****

Sora led Olette around the large terrace and went right to the corner of the western side. Exploring was fun Sora decided, they walked through the small trees and saw several large steel cages.  
They were severely rusted and a door hung off a disintegrated hinge. Sora ventured closer as Olette crept over beside him.   
“Cages? That’s where they must have kept guard dogs or something,” she whispered.

**“Or that’s where they fed patients to the dogs.”**   
**“Oh yuck, Axel. That’s a lie.”**   
**“I’m not kidding - those dogs were vicious mongrels. Saix worked with them back in the day.”**   
**“I see…”**   
**“Just watch this, I think there is something in there actually, the girl said she wanted to find something, so she will.”**

Olette pushed back the growing foliage and the severely rusted metal loops fell apart under her fingers, as the cage came further into view. Sora heard a rustle in the trees and the shadows distorted and grew a large figure.  
Sora went to grab hold of Olette’s arm but she jumped back and squealed, “There’s a skeleton in there! Oh my God, a dog died in there!”

**“Told you Roxas.”**   
**“That’s disgusting, Axel who’s at the gates.”**   
**“Oh it’s Demyx.”**   
**“Of course.”**

Sora cringed and kept his eyes on the shadows, he didn’t give a care in the world of the hundred year old dog skeleton, a Silhouette was in the trees. The laws of the house and the boundaries mustn’t of applied to the outside.  
Olette looked back to the cages. “That’s creepy. Really creepy, I wonder how old it is…” she mused.

Sora watched with a falling heart as he saw the goofy Silhouette briefly appear and push down on the falling door. It gave way immediately and clanged to the concrete of the cages. Olette screamed and jumped to Sora who saw the Silhouette laugh and a shadow swept right over his head. 

He ducked, even though he didn’t have to and he said “Uh, Olette maybe we shouldn’t be back this far from the house, what happens if something happens.”  
He looked back towards the house and saw Aerith crouched in her large garden. The Silhouette with pink hair stood up and saw Sora, he waved and Sora shuddered.  
Olette smiled. “Your Mothers just there, we will be fine, come on Sora, where is your sense of adventure?” She walked off into the trees. 

Sora groaned and yelled, “Olette, you don’t know what’s in there.” He was ignored and he put his hands in his hair, spun in a quick circle trying not to yell out in anger, and ran into the trees after the stubborn girl.

As they walked along the trees, they came to a long narrow crack in the wall. Sora had no idea where this led. The forest that led to Twilight Town was on the eastern side, Olette had found this on the western side.

They walked through the trees and gaps in the clouds let the afternoon sun stream in and hit the forest floor. Somewhere in the distance, Sora heard running water. He bit back uncertainty and looked around wearily for any sign of that troublesome, younger Silhouette.   
If he was out and about the others wouldn’t be far behind him.  
They found a worn out trail that was consumed by weeds and Olette whispered excitedly, “You live on this awesome piece of land, and you don’t go exploring?”   
Sora said in a flat voice, “I have other things to worry about.”

They continued to walk when suddenly something dropped from the trees. It fell right in front of the duo and they both jumped back. Olette gasped as Sora snapped his gaze up.  
It was as he thought.

The Silhouette with the large scars and eyepatch sat on a high branch in a tree. A large purple and black arrow gun was in hand and he was casually shooting birds from the neighboring trees.

The bird that fell at Sora’s feet was bleeding out into the grass. Olette squealed. “What happened there? There wouldn’t be spiders up there, would there?” she looked back to Sora who shrugged helplessly and she stepped over the bird. “This is just getting creepier” she muttered.

Sora could only nod as he heard the Silhouette laugh while he misted from the tree branch.

As the forest cleared out Sora peeked out around the trees and saw a small clearing up ahead. There were no signs of any more Silhouettes…yet.  
Olette peeked around also and she whispered, “Wow, this is pretty cool.”

It was a small clearing in the trees and a small creek ran through the earth in a fast flow. In the corner of the clearing was a large mound and was covered in flowers.  
Olette stepped into the sunlight, the shadows darted through the trees, and Sora saw Demyx land in the water. He grinned maliciously and beckoned Sora closer, the shadows wrapped around his ankles and he was dragged towards the water.

Olette followed and Demyx yanked the shadows back to him and Sora fell flat on his ass and his shoes landed in the water.  
Olette laughed and took off her slip-ons and dangled her feet into the water and sighed, “What a nice place Sora.”

Sora ran his fingers through his hair and then asked, “Olette, what do you really want?” The girl leaned back on her arms and kicked her feet through the water. Sora watched Demyx snake his hands towards Olette then snatch them away when Sora glared at him. He grinned innocently and Sora was starting to get pissed.  
They were just playing with him. 

Across the bank Sora saw another Silhouette mist into view, he had a messy blonde head and facial hair growing around his mouth. From his long coat arms, he drew a card and flicked it around.  
Sora recognised it as a Tarot card and the one he saw made him scared.  
It was the Grim Reaper, Death.

He jumped when Olette placed her hand on his, which were situated in his lap. “Ever since I saw you I knew you were different, I really like you Sora,” she said.  
Sora looked to Olette and said stupidly, “Wha? Really?”

It wasn’t the best to say but Olette smiled lightly and said, “Well do you want to go out this weekend?”  
Sora heard the Silhouette in the water, Demyx laugh then splashed the two with water. He left the stream and Olette sputtered covered with water. Sora laughed and flicked his hands and laughed weakly, “Everything just isn’t going our way is it?”  
He stood up, helped Olette up and said, “Sure, you know Twilight Town better than I do, you choose what we do.”  
Olette beamed and clapped her hands together before she blushed. “Oh I seem desperate don’t I?” She went red.  
Sora brushed it off weakly and laughed, “Oh I have seen worse Olette, don’t worry.”

“Axel, what’s the matter?”  
“I know this place and I don’t like it.”  
“Whoa, are you alright?”  
“I suggest we all get out of here.”

Olette wandered back to the flower mound seemingly shy now and bent down to pick a vivid pink carnation flower. The grass fell away and the dirt rolled down the small hole.  
Sora came over and frowned when he saw the mound and saw something gleam.

He bent down in his wet sandshoes and pulled more grass and dirt away. Something came away in his hand and Sora yelped and threw said object away.  
A human skull cracked against the earth and the jaw fell away.  
Suddenly all the shadows in the trees dissipated and Sora saw all the Silhouettes disappear. 

He looked around frantically and through the trees a savage snarl erupted out and a shadow phantom came racing through the trees.  
Sora saw a glimpse of electric blue and fear ripped through his chest and he breathed out.  
“Saix.”

Olette looked at him puzzled and a little worriedly. “Saix? Who or what is Saix, Sora?”  
Sora felt his knees buckle and he just shouted, “Run, Olette, just run!”  
The pair went for the trees but was blocked off by more shadows. Olette whimpered and Sora cursed loudly.

Another gush of shadows swept over them and Sora spun around to see Roxas reach through the trees and hiss furiously, “Get here now! Both of you.”  
Olette whimpered fearfully, “How did you get here? And what’s going on?”  
All Roxas did was shake his head and say, “The stories about this place is real, girl, you do not know what you have just got yourself into!”

He snapped his gaze back to Sora and hissed menacingly, “You are fucking lucky he is doing this for you. He was going to let you die.”  
Sora saw a flash of red and then panted, “Or am I just lucky that he listens to you, little bro?”

Roxas nodded and as the fighting shadows came dangerously close. Olette screamed and then shrieked, “I’m getting out of here.” She bolted for the denser trees and Sora hissed to Roxas, “We need to go.”  
He grabbed his little brother’s hands and pulled him deftly through the trees. Roxas protested and cried out desperately just before he dropped like a stone to the grass screaming out in pain clutching the pulsing black scar running down his neck and tracing his collarbone.

Sora yelped out and Olette scurried back over and tried to help Sora lift Roxas up. As Roxas cried out again there was an echoed cry, the shadows dissipated, Axel fell to the earth, his cloak ripped to shreds, and red-tinted black blood seeped to the earth.  
The illusion fell away, Olette screamed, and Roxas cried out, “Axel, fucking hell, get up Axel.”  
Saix appeared above Axel, he was still battered but his vivid glowing eyes portrayed that the mongrel Silhouette was not going to go down without a fight. Now he had Axel pinned beneath him because Sora had pulled Roxas away.

Roxas squirmed from Sora accusing him, “It’s your fault!”  
He went to run over to Axel and Saix but before there was more bloodshed, a larger shadow fell from the sky, shaking the whole earth as it did so. From the hazy black mist, a red cloak billowed out and golden claws came out.

Saix snarled but his eyes were frightened and like a scared dog, Saix took off towards the trees.  
Axel lay still in the grass gasping and Roxas broke away from his brother and fell beside Axel. 

Anxious blue eyes bore into green and Roxas whispered desperately pulling strands of fiery red hair away from Axel’s face. “Are you alright Axel? Shit, this is my fault, I’m so sorry Axel.” The Silhouette chuckled but that quickly changed to a grimace of pain. Roxas realised with shock that Saix had gotten more of Axel than previously thought. He looked up when the newcomer, the strange Silhouette, bent down beside the pair and said in a low voice, “He will be ok.”

Roxas stared at him wearily almost hugging Axel’s head to his chest. “W-who are you?” he stammered.  
The Silhouette looked up his red eyes flashing, “I am Vincent Valentine. Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you Roxas.”  
Axel stirred and he mumbled, “You better not hurt him, or I will kill-” he lost consciousness and Roxas started to feel his head going cloudy as well.  
Vincent looked at them both and nodded and he whispered, “A strong bond between you two, alright. Just relax Roxas and I will take you home.”

*****

The moon was high as the transition into midnight took hold. The stars twinkled above the Twilight Mansion and two figures misted out of the door and darted across the terrace. 

Coming into the trees, two figures appeared and solidified.   
Zexion turned around and pointed to Demyx. “You stay here. If you so much as move a muscle there will be hell to pay and I bloody well mean it.”  
Demyx pouted but he nodded and Zexion strode into the crowd of trees where the Silhouette introduced as Vincent Valentine met him.

Zexion eyed him off wearily and then asked, “What brings you here to Twilight Town?”   
Vincent looked at him with seething red eyes and he said in a dangerous voice, “I was brought here by the intense Silhouette activity, unlike what you think there are more Silhouettes out there.”

Zexion gaped and he asked, “We aren’t the only-?”  
“You were made illegally,” Vincent said roughly. “Xemnas thought he wouldn’t be caught, But here I am and I found two special people along the way.”   
Zexion frowned as Vincent went on, “The Silhouette Axel, he is a strong one, very courageous and the one he had bonded to, the human Roxas, is also. They can both travel to the ‘In Between’ a valued gift among the Silhouette race, shame that Roxas will eventually die.”

Zexion interjected, “He won’t die, we will prot-” Vincent interrupted Zexion’s interruption. “He has bonded with that red head, their bond is far much stronger than what you think, Roxas will have to die sooner or later, and you should know that, especially as a Master Magician.”

Zexion looked away then asked brusquely, “Why are you here, Vincent?”   
Vincent swept away with his cloak billowing out from behind him, “I am one of three Master Silhouettes, I have come here to capture and destroy Xemnas for making all Silhouettes in this house illegally. It is against the law.”

Zexion looked up at him through his veil of indigo hair, “What will happen to the rest of us?”  
Vincent started to gather smoke as he simply said, “I don’t know, we will have to wait.”   
Then in the starlight, Vincent Valentine vanished.


	16. Division

It started at 6 am. 

Roxas jerked awake in mediocre light at the abrupt sound of his docking station blaring to life. He sat upright and heard Axel groan loudly beside him, rolling from the bed landing with a loud thud on the wooden floorboards.

With his head spinning, Roxas glared around and saw a grinning Demyx beside the bedside table. The Ipod was on and playing at maximum volume and it wouldn’t be long until the rest of the house grumpily awoke to it.

Roxas groaned and threw his hand up and exclaimed angrily, “Demyx turn it off!” The young Silhouette only shook his head and the last lyrics blared out.

Axel loomed up behind Demyx and shut the station off with his face glowing a pale white, the veins snaking through his skin. His green eyes were wildfire and Roxas hurled his pillow, which hit Demyx in the chest.  
“Fuck off, Dem!” he shouted falling into the quilts. 

Axel’s hands shot out to grab Demyx but he dodged away and sang, “But the sun is up, it will be a nice day.” Roxas looked to his alarm blearily and saw that the time was now 6:04.  
Great.

He groaned into his pillow and Demyx sang, “Do you know, if you listen to this song it sorta resembles us, like there is a dark side and a light side and…”  
“Real smooth Dem,” Axel rasped in an unamused, angry voice. “Now get the hell out of my room before I burn you beyond steam and into total Oblivion.”

Demyx sang as he ran from the room and Axel, without realising it, crawled back onto Roxas’ bed and buried his face into the pillow.  
But Roxas was awake and he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. He stared at the roof for a long moment then when everything died down, Roxas was able to hear Cloud exclaiming angrily to his wife and Sora grumbling rather loudly.

He smirked to himself before he turned his head to gaze at Axel who was lying motionless with his head in the pillow.  
After a moment, there was a muffled exclamation. “Stop looking at me!”

Roxas chuckled, placed a hand on his chest and said, “I thought Silhouettes didn’t sleep?”  
Axel lifted his head his eyes squinting at the sudden light, “Who told you that?” Roxas shrugged.   
“Sorta guessed it?” 

Axel sat his head back on the pillow but kept eye contact with Roxas, “I’m regenerating, I was torn to pieces Roxas; I need to rest. What happens if your chest was torn apart?”  
Roxas looked back to the roof. “Die?” he replied simply.

Axel said in a more rough voice, “Not on my watch you don’t.” He went silent for a second then said in a wondering voice, “Hey you aren’t cranky this morning?”  
Roxas pouted. 

“Thanks for pointing that out, Axel,” he said in a sour voice.   
The blonde got up and sat against his pillows and Axel groaned, “Go back to sleep, it’s still too early.”   
Roxas smirked. “Once I’m up, I’m up. So you have no choice either Axel.” Axel grunted turning his face back into the pillow; he lifted his hand and waved Roxas away.   
“I have an excuse, I’m hurt and you need to keep me company.”

There was another moment of silence and Roxas said in a soft voice, “What are we honestly doing Axel, with this whole thing?”  
Axel lifted his head abruptly and narrowed his eyes at Roxas questioningly.   
“What are you trying to say?” he asked in a guarded tone. Roxas lifted his hands in gesture then let them drop, “Alright I feel really stupid, but I mean ‘US’ Axel, is there something that I’m not seeing but everybody else is?”

Axel chuckled and lifted a hand in defence. “Hey, I haven’t done a thing.” His eyes glinted when he added, “Yet.”   
Roxas didn’t like the tone that was taken from that and he regarded Axel with a frown, “I know I’m ignorant Axel, but come on what do you want?” The red head dropped his hand and simply chuckled again. 

“You do know Roxas, just stop fighting it.” His hand fell onto his eyes and covered them completely and Roxas sighed a little in frustration. He didn’t get an answer from the Silhouette, he shook his head in disdain and threw his legs off the side of his bed and slouched his way over to the balcony. He threw open the doors and felt a slight breeze on his face.

The air was clean and crisp and Roxas smiled into a cloudless, beautiful dawn. The sun hit the trees on the horizon and he could just make out Twilight Town. It was indeed a sleepy town. Roxas stared out absently and jumped a foot in the air when Axel had come up behind him and said in a soft voice, “It hasn’t changed you know.”  
Roxas frowned looking up at the Silhouette then back to the sunlit Twilight Town. “What hasn’t?” he asked. 

Axel pointed out with his hand before coming beside the blonde and resting on the balcony, “Twilight Town, too big to call a village but far too small to be called an actual town, people just stumble upon here occasionally,” he smirked and said looking down to Roxas. “I bet if you go back to the city and ask where Twilight Town is, most dim witted humans wouldn’t even know,” he chuckled and averted his eyes. “It was almost the same over a hundred years ago, sure a few buildings came up and people modernised, also left this house a bad reputation.” His emerald gaze swept over the forests and said, “The forest separating us from Twilight Town wasn’t there when I was here, we could see the entire town, and the entire town only saw a massive Mental Hospital up on the hill. I guess it was daunting but then the west and east wing was torn down and made into a house.”

At that his mouth firmed and Roxas instantly knew that Axel wouldn’t say anything of the bloodied past of the house. So instead, he said softly “and the residents never left.”   
At that statement, Axel chuckled and nodded, “We never left.”  
There was a moment of silence between the boy and the demon as they watched the sunrise higher up into the sky.   
As the sky turned a deep blue and the sun brightened Axel groaned and covered his eyes, “I really dislike the sun.” 

His eyes adjusted when he uncovered them and Roxas said in a defeated voice, “I’m sorry if I act like an ass, Axel.”  
It was unexpected and Axel said gazing at Roxas, “Stop saying that, I can be every bit of a bastard as well Roxas, how about we can both settle on that we are as bad as each other?”

This bought a small smile to Roxas’ lips and he focused his hearing when he heard his parent’s bedroom door open and somebody walked past and down the stairs.  
Roxas changed the mood then, “Axel” he started thinking about what he would say before he blurted, “About yesterday, the whole fight between everybody, even with this new stranger, does it give you a bad feeling?” 

Axel mood darkened immediately and he said in an almost breathless voice, “everything that is danger to you Roxas, it always gives me a bad feeling, ever since I had access to your heart, your emotions I have been utterly overwhelmed with it all but the most potent feeling I feel around you is the urge to protect you.”

His voice was full of utter seriousness and Roxas remembered the day when he had first met Axel, he was so mean and heartless but all Axel had wanted to do was to be close to somebody and, more importantly, protect him from the very essence of life itself.

“Remember when we first met, Axel?” he asked, “the night when you terrified the shit out of me and tore a hole in my shoulder?” he kept his smile light and as he acknowledged the bite, the scar on his shoulder and collarbone tingled.   
Axel made a soft noise in his throat and stood straight, he didn’t ask Roxas’ permission before he pulled the blonde’s shirt down and saw the scar he had left.   
He watched intently and traced the raised scar tissue and it made Roxas feel terribly uncomfortable.

His gut felt really tight and hot when Axel touched him and the urge to pull away seemed quite tempting.  
But at the same time feelings of bliss, happiness and comfort coursed through him. He   
wanted Axel so much more. His chest ached for that but his head was clear and sharp and prevented anything from happening.  
Roxas’ head prevented him from following his heart.  
Axel pulled his hand away and Roxas wanted to throw a tantrum but he held his dignity and stared at the Silhouette with large owlish blue eyes.   
“Do you still hate me for it?” Axel asked in a soft voice. 

Roxas debated with himself before he admitted, “I never did hate you Axel, I was just frightened, no, bloody terrified of you, to think it was only a couple of days ago.”

His mind was whirling, he was trying to think of things to say that wouldn’t hurt Axel’s feelings but it was proving to be quite difficult, Axel’s tough demeanour didn’t hold the slightest true character and feelings Axel really had and he was easy to hurt.

He tried again, “Not once, did I ever have the feeling to hate you Axel, the day I hurt your feelings and you disappeared, I blamed myself and I was begging Zexion and Demyx to bring you back to me so I could apologise.” The blonde looked at his hands and tried so hard not to grimace when he felt Axel’s smouldering eyes burn him. “I had never felt so guilty in all my life, it burned me from the inside out, and to be honest”  
Roxas hesitated then said in all true words, “I don’t care if your human or not Axel, you are the first person I have ever felt like this about.”

Roxas sat back defeated, his eyes wandered away from Axel. “We moved from Hollow Bastion because of my…issues. I was the target for abuse from everybody; I was a nervous wreck and secluded myself from everybody and everything.”  
His eyes came back up slowly and met Axel’s, “I hated everybody who dare interfere with me. I hated Sora, I hated Dad, I even hated Mum to an extent. But, she gave everything up in Hollow Bastion to protect me. We came here and everything just escalated.”

Axel gave him a wry smile as the blonde spoke, “The Silhouettes aren’t even human, but I feel like I have gotten along better with all of you than what I have with normal people my entire life. I know what it feels like to be part of something; I’m not standing on the sidelines looking in for once.”

His words were not any truer, it was a fond feeling that had been escalating to greater heights over the days passed and Roxas couldn’t control it.   
He wondered if Axel felt the same but at that moment, he didn’t care; he just had to tell Axel how he felt without letting his head interfere with his heart.

*****

Sora glared gloomily at the horrible green teal colour of his wallpaper, after he had been rudely awoken by the blaring music that erupted from his brother’s room.   
He heard the laugh of a younger Silhouette bound from the room and all was quiet for a moment before he heard the bedroom door to his parent’s room open and close again.  
The gentle footfalls indicated that it was his Mother.  
As Aerith disappeared down the stairs, Sora found begrudgingly that he was not able to go back to sleep.   
So now, he found himself staring at the wall.

When his illuminating green alarm clock indicated 6:06, there was a clatter of footsteps over the bathroom tiles and the room went cold.   
“Are you alright Sora?” came the soft, audible voice of Naminé.   
Sora felt his bed sink under the slight weight and the passive sounding Riku joined Naminé. 

Sora sat up against his pillows and watched his two ghostly friends, Naminé smiled rather sadly at him and Riku walked up beside him and folded his arms.  
It wasn’t a good inclination and Sora sighed wondering what he had done wrong now. Yesterday had been an honest mistake.

Sora waited for the first reprimands to shoot out but what he heard he hadn’t quite expected, “Do you like that girl, Sora?”  
The brunette inclined his head towards one of his more closely regarded friend and asked in a puzzled voice, “Excuse me?”

Riku rolled his eyes and asked in a slightly more impatient voice, “That silly girl who intruded yesterday, do you have feelings for her?”  
Sora felt a frown crease his forehead and he protested, defending his friend, “Olette is not ‘silly’ Riku, and why would it bother you if I like her or not, I wouldn’t expect you to care!”

Riku threw his arms out and Naminé said in a soft voice, “Riku don’t.”

The silver ghost paid no heed however and he said almost angrily to Sora who still lie in his quilts, “You exposed ‘us’ and ‘them’ Sora, you know how dangerous that can be for not only you but for everybody else as well? The girl was nothing but trouble and she is only distracting you from the more grave things that are about to happen!”  
“She isn’t a priority right now, Riku!” Sora exclaimed angrily, “but I’d be lying if I said that I am not interested in her.” His voice grew more angry and defiant, “It wouldn’t bother you, Riku, I have a life to live outside this cursed house, I am not tied here like the other idiot that’s living under this roof.”  
“That’s not true!” Riku demanded roughly spinning around glaring at Sora with hard aqua eyes. “You are tied here in more ways than you think and that stupid girl is just getting in my way.”  
Naminé stood up, held out her hands, and pleaded desperately, “Please don’t fight, we are dividing enough as it is, we cannot afford to turn on each other.”  
Again, she was ignored as Sora accused, “In the way, I’m trying to keep her away from this bullshit Riku, I know exactly what those monsters across the hall are capable of, I will keep her away.”  
Riku snorted brushing his angry remark off and spat, “it’s too late now Sora, if she walks into that door on either side, I will make sure I have my hands around her before you even realise it.”  
Sora jumped from his solace of warm blankets his anger peaking, “You jealous, Riku?” he accused and Riku stared down at him.

Sora had never realised how tall Riku was until he was staring at his chest.  
His great pale blue eyes glared at Riku above him and the ghost spat, “I’m not jealous of a mere weak and insignificant human girl.”  
“Please don’t fight,” Naminé whimpered.

“You should have every right to be,” Sora spat. “She is beautiful, she is warm, she has a heart and she is alive.”  
That last word drove home and Naminé let out a choked sob and ran from the room. She went right through the bathroom and Sora felt a stab of guilt hit him and mentally reminded himself to go apologise to the young spirit girl.  
Riku’s hand drove out, gripped Sora by the throat, and rammed him up against the wall. 

The Spirits were not weak and Sora had definitely underestimated them, especially Riku.  
His eyes were incredibly dark, almost black when he growled, “You said the wrong thing right there, human.” His handsome features distorted with rage and another unfathomable look and Sora tugged at the hands around his throat.  
The Spirits hands did not falter and Sora rasped, kicking his feet uselessly “The truth hurts doesn’t it, Riku?”

Sora dangled there uselessly for a moment longer and actually felt a thrill of panic that Riku was going to strangle him. 

None other than a miracle saved him when footsteps came up the stairs and there was a knock at two doors, “Roxas, Sora get up and have something to eat for breakfast.”  
Sora’s door opened and Riku dropped Sora to his feet and misted away as Aerith poked her head in and saw a rather dazed Sora leaning against his wall.

“Are you alright?” she asked her eyes going down into a small, worried frown.  
Sora knew right away that if he tried to speak he would end up sputtering and choking for breath.  
So he nodded instead and instantly felt his eyes begin to water from the lack of oxygen and the constriction of his throat. 

Aerith nodded and left the door and Sora threw himself onto his bed and took in long strangled breaths as he began to cough and sputter.  
Riku would have surely tried to kill him just there.

After his coughing fit had diminished, Sora needed to get out of his bedroom. He went to the door and flung it open just as he saw Roxas and Axel come out of theirs.  
Roxas seemed to be brooding but Axel’s large jade eyes were glowing with admiration. They instantly hardened when he saw Sora and Roxas looked up as well, his large sapphire eyes glowing with an eerie light.

Sora knew Riku had appeared behind him again and he whispered in a harsh voice, “Maybe I should go with her Riku, make you crazier than what you already are.  
Sora’s voice was filled with venom and the next thing he knew, he was thrown out into the hall against the wall beside his bedroom.

There was a startled cry from Roxas and all Sora saw was Riku’s dark menacing eyes before the ghosts lips smashed up against his own.  
It was so sudden it made Sora bite, his tongue quite painfully. “He’s kissing you,” his mind shrieked. “Push him away, get the freak away!”

Sora was not gay, just the idea of another male kissing another was downright disgusting. Human or ghost it didn’t matter.  
But Riku’s hard, cold lips crushed his own in a painful way and the ghosts hands grasped his tightly and pinned his hands on the wall above him.  
Riku bit his lower lip hard and Sora’s mouth with filled with the coppery tang of blood on his tongue.

He started to struggle vainly and Riku pulled away his freezing misty breath making Sora shiver right down to his bones, “You are tied to us regardless Sora, you cannot leave because I will always bring you back.”

His voice was low and dark and when he stepped back and disappeared Sora saw Roxas standing on the other side of the hall clutching Axel to him in a death grip. His eyes were wide with worry and shock and the Silhouette even looked downright surprised.  
Sora’s hand flew to his mouth and felt the blood pouring down his chin. It leaked in a steady stream down to his shirt.

Roxas pulled away from Axel when he saw his brother convulse and the blood dripped from a damaged bloody lip.  
Ignoring the shocked cry of Axel, Roxas raced across the border and caught his older brother just as the brunette fainted. He knew it was a mistake.

Axel shouted out in distress, Roxas felt his mind twist painfully, and the colour drained from his face. His scar began to steadily throb in pain and he was instantly frozen to the bone.  
He dragged his brother into his bedroom and heard Axel crying out angrily demanding Roxas come back over the border.

The Silhouette was ignored and Roxas raced his dead weight brother to the cold bathroom tiles. He turned on the cold tap, cupped his hands together, and then dumped freezing water on his brother’s face.  
Sora instantly sputtered awake, he got to his hands, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Roxas wet a cloth and bend down to him.

“W-what are you doing?” he whispered and Roxas said in a dangerous voice, “He shouldn’t have done that to you.”  
His brother helped him up and Roxas kept the cloth firmly over Sora’s mouth. He growled, “You keep your fiends on a leash Sora, Axel is already dying of a heart attack out there.”

Sora gazed at his brother and smiled under cloth, even though they had their fights, even their massive ones, they were still brothers and they cared and looked out for each other.   
Sora head the thundering of footsteps up the stairs and Axel’s cries growing more furious and desperate; it would be only a matter of time before he started to try breaking the barrier.  
The first Spirit to arrive was Naminé, but she took one look at a battered bleeding Sora and Roxas trying to help calm his brother.

As Kairi arrived and dove for Roxas, the blonde girl grabbed her and shrieked shrilly, “Riku done that to him, what was he thinking?”  
Kairi gazed hatefully at Roxas and Sora said in a muffled voice, “Don’t hurt him. I swear, lay a ghostly finger on him and there will be hell to pay.”  
As he said this Roxas chuckled wryly dabbing the blood away, “I think there is already hell to pay, but not from you Sora.”

Roxas pulled the cloth away and Sora saw that the blue face washer was completely soaked in dark red blood. It dripped from the cloth and onto the tiles and Roxas stared at him intently biting his lip, “Sora, I don’t think you will like this.”

Sora pushed aside his brother, stared at his face in the mirror, and saw that his lip was still weeping blood but it was ruined, it looked like a large gash had been bitten out.   
Behind him, Sora didn’t see his brother drop the blood sodden cloth and stagger on his feet, both hands gripping his scar.

As the other Spirits arrived in a complete raged frenzy, it was Kairi and Naminé that held them back and Naminé pleaded with Zack to look at Sora.  
When Tidus, Yuffie and Yuna were restrained by their words, Kairi inspected the wound as well and said in wonderment, “Riku has a scar like that as well, what the hell was he trying to do?”

“I will heal him,” Zack said grimly and he looked up to Roxas to see the blonde boy falling to his knees.  
His large ocean eyes widened and he said, “Quick get him out of here and back to that blasted Silhouette before his body goes into shock.”  
Kairi and Naminé rushed forward and Sora said worriedly, “He hurt himself trying to help me.” Zack grabbed Sora’s cheeks and said, “He will be fine, you’re lucky he defied the rules for you, he must love you very much.”  
Roxas looked to the girls either side of him and said weakly, “Don’t touch me, you will freeze me.”

Naminé shook her long tousled hair and said, “I would never hurt you, Roxas; you are Axel’s chosen and I respect Axel far too much to stoop down and attack you.”  
The blonde’s face was devoid of colour and he started to look gaunt and sallow. Naminé held his arm gently and Kairi said, “I will have to get the story later kid, I want to say thanks for doing this to help your brother, especially with all of us ready to kill you, I really admire your courage.”

Roxas was led out of the bedroom and he saw Axel fighting the barrier desperately his face white streaked with angry black lines.  
His eyes remained soulless black and his bright white pupils darted to the crouching from of Roxas.  
The fire intensified around his arms.

The Spirit girls realised that he was surrounded by the other Silhouettes and all looked at Roxas worriedly. Roxas was one of them; he was accepted and loved by the Demons. Naminé shook her head and referred them to their names of the Silhouettes. 

They were not Demons to her at all.  
The smaller one, Zexion shouted to Axel. “Axel settle down, please settle or they will not hand him over, I know you hurt but look they are helping him.”  
Axel’s furious frenzy was still in high swing but he settled enough to see Roxas stand up on two full feet. His eyes flicked back to their bright emerald colour and Roxas looked at the girls and nodded, smiling softly “Thank you, for letting me help my brother.”

Naminé’s heart melted when her azure eyes locked with Roxas’ sapphire and she whispered, “We wouldn’t hurt you Roxas, you know that.” She let go of his arm as did Kairi and Roxas stumbled back over the border and into the waiting arms of Axel.  
Axel clutched him tightly and demanded angrily, “Why did you do thatyou scared the shit out of all of us.”

Roxas looked up at the tall Silhouette and whispered something, Axel frowned and bent down and Roxas whispered in his ear this time.  
Whatever he said made Axel cringe, Larxene who was beside them nodded.  
Axel looked to Kairi and Naminé and said in a gruff, but grateful voice, “Thanks for not hurting him.”

Larxene smiled softly as her eyes rested on Naminé and she said, “We appreciate it, Roxas is dear to us,” her usually sharp green eyes were clouded and soft when she looked to Naminé. “Thank you, my dear sister.”

As the Spirits disappeared, Roxas looked up to a glowering Axel and tried to redeem himself by saying incredulously, “He bit Sora’s lip, there was a huge hole in it, his whole bottom lip is like mangled, gone.”  
He frowned, “There was so much blood, it’s all over the tiles and-” he grimaced and Larxene chortled, “It’s all over you Roxas.”

Demyx stood beside Zexion and enquired, “What happened?”  
Roxas felt a lot better by now and he said, “Axel and I walked out and Sora said something when the Spirit appeared behind him.”  
He looked to Axel who still had his arms around him and the red head finished, “He kissed him, but looks like that’s not all he did.”

Together, both Luxord and Xigbar frowned and the gambler Silhouette said, “I was highly sure that the grey haired Spirit had feelings for the brother.”  
Xigbar looked thoughtful, “Why attack him?”  
Roxas frowned and an exclamation hit him, “Feelings? For Sora? My brother isn’t gay; he is a bit like my Father in some ways, but recently”  
Axel finished for him saying in a grim voice, “That girl.”

Larxene giggled, “Oh the green eyed monster is out, literally.”  
Axel shook his head and reprimanded Roxas, “Do not do that again, are you aware how much pain there was?”

The blonde nodded and said, “It’s my brother, Axel. I acted on instinct, besides none of the Spirits hurt me.” He looked serious, “They all seemed pretty mellow.”   
Zexion shook his head and said, “Don’t underestimate them Roxas, you might have helped them get Sora from that ‘Riku’ but they will still be weary of you.”

Larxene shook her head and said in an abrupt voice, “My sister isn’t like that, do you know how much it pains me when I see her so sad, all the time?”  
The group of Silhouette turned towards the stairs and Axel said still holding Roxas, “I don’t care, next time…” he glared at Roxas, “If you pull that stunt again, I will come after you, I hate being apart from you.”

His eyes were still hard and a little angry but Roxas was happy to see the glimmer of relief and soft admiration and knew he had been forgiven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music that inspired this chapter:   
> If I had You- Adam Lambert


	17. Escape

The shadows flickered up and down the trees; it rushed with deliberation keeping strictly to the darkness as it neared the crack in the wall leading into Twilight Town. The town was alive on a busy Friday morning and the sunlight streamed down and illuminated the bright sandstone pathways.

The shadow went by undetected and swooped down like a bird on unsuspecting prey. The buildings swept past this particular shadow as it made its way to its intended destination.  
The shadows dissipated and the shadow went racing up the shadow of a pipe. It landed on top of one of the larger buildings in Twilight Town. Below it was the school and the kids were all making their way into the school gates.   
Bright eyes flashed when the shadow saw its intended targets. The brothers made their way to the school, the red head Silhouette, Axel, strolling a little way behind with his hands behind his head.

The brunette brother, Sora, had the collar of his shirt pulled up to attempt whatever it was he was hiding and the blonde seemed to be talking to him.   
The shadow perched upon the roof watched the trio before it misted away and followed the boys into the front gates of the school.

*****

Demyx’s eyes searched the front courtyard critically and turned his head when he saw the front door open. His ocean eyes settled on the parents, Aerith and Cloud, as they made their way down the front porch of the mansion. The Father locked the door and then followed his Wife who was walking down the stairs.

They walked to the car and the water Silhouette sat in the fountain and watched them. As the car purred to life and pulled out the driveway, Demyx watched until the front gates shut in response then he called out.   
“He’s not here.”

The supposed ‘locked’ door flew open and shadows seeped out, Larxene appeared next to Xigbar and the gnarled old Silhouette growled.   
“The mongrel hasn’t appeared yet?”

Demyx shook his head and Zexion walked from the front door and down the steps. His face was twisted with anger, “I do not know how he keeps escaping!”  
Xigbar frowned. He spun around to the Schemer and shouted, “It’s your barrier he is escaping through Zexion, you know what that mutt is capable of. Only god fucking knows what he is up to.”

All the gathered Silhouettes spun around back to the house when there was a high keening wail that ripped through the air; Marluxia appeared at the door with Luxord.  
“You guys better come back in here quickly.”  
The Pink haired Silhouettes voice sounded strained and Luxord held all his cards so hard they were bending.  
Zexion gazed back at his companions before they raced back to the door and found the house roaring. Spirits were running down the stairs and Larxene shrieked to her blonde Spirit sister Naminé, “What’s going on?”

Naminé looked terribly frightened and she pointed to the stairs. “We have to get out of here, NOW!” She misted away.   
“I’m not going up there.” Demyx said in a frightened voice.  
He whimpered when the others did indeed go up the stairs and he was dragged along. There was another keening wail and down at the end of the hallway the Silhouettes saw the problem. 

The attic roof door being guarded by Xaldin and Lexaeus was being banged down upon with deafening crashes. The whole roof shook with the impact and the two burly Silhouettes were holding the door shut.   
Even the strength of them didn’t help, with each thundering crash the door threatened to come bursting down. 

Larxene gasped, cowering into the side of Marluxia and from beside Zexion, Luxord’s cards fell from his hands and scattered over the floorboards. Zexion saw the one card that had turned upwards. He saw the tarot card of death and instantly knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

Demyx started to back away and said in a wavering voice “We shouldn’t be standing here guys; we should listen to what the Spirits said.” He sounded like he had tears rolling down his cheeks. Xigbar cursed.   
Vexen turned to Zexion, barking. “What do you want us to do, we can’t fight!”  
The Illusionist was overcome with many emotions, fear being the most predominant feeling that raced through him. Xaldin and Lexaeus glanced his way then the roof caved in.

Dust swept up in a large cloud, the roof groaned and Zexion shouted, “RUN, GET OUT HERE!”   
There was a loud evil laugh that ran through the hall of the house and instantly all the Silhouettes dissipated, fleeing the house. The forest rippled with the power and the shadows themselves even seemed to cringe back.

In the forest, Demyx fell right into the creek and Zexion fell in a heap on the grass. The Schemer gripped his head and Demyx pushed his way through the water and rushed over to help Zexion up.   
“W-What are we going to do Zexy?” he whimpered looking through the tree canopy fearfully. Zexion groaned and opened his large blue eyes.   
“The first thing we need to do is get to the school,” he said.  
Demyx blinked and said in a worried, doubtful voice, “The sun is out Zexion, we can’t use the shadows.” 

Zexion allowed himself to be helped up and he said, “Neither can ‘they’, so we need to drop the Illusions. Getting to Axel and Roxas is by far a higher priority.”

*****

Sora wrenched open his new locker groaning in frustration when all his folders and books fell out all over his feet. He threw his bag down and bent to gather his things. He stopped momentarily when he saw a pair of white shoes beside him; he groaned again in his chest and quickly grabbed the rest of his things. He hid his face behind the door of his locker.  
“Hello Sora.” 

Olette’s voice came from behind the door and Sora mumbled a quick hello praying that she wouldn’t mess with his rising temper. She didn’t falter and instead her voice came out hard when she asked, “What happened yesterday Sorawhat was all that.” 

Sora took in a long deep breath and said, “I told you not to get meddled in it Olette. I tried to keep you away.”   
Olette stamped her foot and said, “Tell me the truth Sora, or I will announce it to the world. Who were those people? One of them got hurt, he was bleeding black blood, and Roxas appeared out of nowhere, he isn’t a magician or anything. So what happened?”  
She was pissing him off…badly.  
Sora tried to keep his anger in check but it was difficult. When he got angry, it sent even Roxas running for the hills. 

He slammed his locker door shut and Olette jumped when Sora pushed her up against it.  
“Alright, Olette, here is the truth,” Sora snapped. “My house is haunted by Spirits and Demons, they were playing with us yesterday and then when you decided to go exploring they were on our heels frightening us!”

Olette’s eyes widened and Sora hissed. “You happy now? My house is haunted, you know the inevitable truth. My brother is best friends with one of the twelve Demons, the red headed one.”  
Olette’s eyes started to fill with tears and she said, “W-what happened to your lip Sora?”  
Sora growled low in his throat and he said, “I was attacked by my Ghost friend because I tried to protect you. Oh and I say this as a warning, Olette: if you so much as breathe one word of this to anybody, I mean anyone, they will hunt you down and do what they did to my family.”

Olette cringed against the lockers and Sora said, “Do you understand me Olette, I mean itI’m not joking.”  
His voice was utterly serious. Olette nodded fearfully. “I’m s-sorry Sora, I didn’t mean to mess around in your problems,” she whispered.  
Sora sighed, placed his hand on the locker behind Olette’s head and said in a weary voice, “You have no idea Olette, just by meddling you are tied in this. The Spirit in particular would want revenge, the Silhouettes, -no the Demons are just bloodthirsty freaks of the supernatural world.” 

His eyes met Olette’s. “I need your help in this Olette, I am being ripped apart from my brother, my mother is in more danger than what I thought and my dad is just completely oblivious.”

Olette gripped her folders and said, “Why don’t you tell them?”   
Sora lifted his head and asked, “Who? My parents?” when he got a nod in response he shook his head. “I can’t, I don’t want my parents in this, they need to go away, because after this whole mess I don’t think me or Roxas will come out of this alive.”

*****

Roxas gathered his things after the recess bell rang. After much deliberation and humiliation, the blonde had sat with his older brother and his friends. He didn’t speak much unless he was directly spoken to.   
The girl that Sora obviously liked kept giving him uncomfortable glances that made Roxas irritable. 

Axel lounged on the grass beside him and stared up into the skies. “Don’t let her bother you Roxas, it’s just a human,” he said, placing a hand on Roxas’ shoulder.   
When the bell rang, Roxas got up instantly and slung his pack over his shoulder. Axel got to his feet behind him and cast Olette a cold glare, even though Olette couldn’t see him she cringed. Roxas couldn’t help but smile slightly. 

He turned his back and he pouted when Sora came up behind and grabbed his shoulder and hissed in his ear, “Tell your pet to back off.”   
Roxas stopped and turned around to scowl up at Sora, the brothers looked up briefly and their eyes flickered away when Axel chuckled wryly. “Keep your mouth shut around me, Spirit boy.”

Sora clamped his mouth shut. Olette came up on his arm, glared at Roxas, and said without taking her eyes off him, “Are you alright Sora?” The brunette brother nodded. Roxas hiked up his bag and walked off across the small terrace.   
Axel walked casually beside him. “Do you think she knows about us, Roxas?” he asked, glancing worriedly at the pair.   
Without looking at the Silhouette he said, “I wouldn’t know, unless Sora spilled his guts.”

“Well if he did, that girl will be wrapped up in this mess just as much you and he are.” The red Silhouette shook his head. “Everything and everyone is being thrown into this,” he said with a hardening voice.

Roxas walked back into the main school corridor where seniors milled around everywhere waiting by their lockers.  
Roxas went right up to the end of the hall and slumped down on a bench. He took out his timetable to see what he had, he groaned when he saw the small print that read Geography.   
He let out a heavy sigh and Axel groaned beside him and muttered, “Why do you have so many boring subjects? I have to sit there and endure it.”   
Roxas stared into his large heavy pack and said, “It’s not my problem Axel, maybe if you were better at subjects I have, we would have a better time.” Axel pouted.   
“It’s not my problem, maybe if it was a history of Twilight Town I might be of help, seeing as I have been dead for like- oh yeah a hundred and ten years.”

Axel threw his hands up in the air and Roxas jerked out his folders for his upcoming subjects. “Just shut up, Axel. Whatever you have to go through, I have to go through as well. Trust me, compared to what has happened to me over this week, school is piss easy.” Roxas zipped his pack up and Axel stared at all the kids walking either past or through him. 

“I don’t like crowds,” he said, pouting. Roxas simply rolled his eyes and got to his feet and following the crowds of kids.  
As he walked down the white halls, Roxas simply thought to himself with a growing knot of tension forming in his stomach.   
“What will go wrong today…?”  
Beside the blonde, Axel strode along and he was thinking along the exact same lines.  
“What else could happen to us? A million things perhaps, I will give it a little while yet.”

Roxas walked into the classroom shadowed by Axel and he noted that another teen sighed and muttered to his friend, “Whew, it’s warm in here isn’t it? I thought it was supposed to be getting colder!”

Roxas kept a grim smile to himself and went down to the second last row of seats and sat against the wall, he was more likely to be left alone by his classmates and that’s how Roxas liked it… sort of.  
“You did that on purpose!” Axel exclaimed loudly when he came to stand before Roxas’ desk. He folded his arms and he didn’t get answer so he replied in a steely voice, “Fine, if Roxy won’t give me a seat to sit on I will have to improvise.”

With a betraying smirk, Roxas could only frantically shake his head before Axel hoisted himself upon his desk.  
The blonde squinted his eyes shut and mouthed the words without speaking, “Get off, just GET OFF.”

Axel knew of Roxas’ distress and smirked again simply shaking his head and he wiggled about on the desk making it rattle noisily. “I rather like it here, better than any old seat, oh and I can see the other side of the classroom from up here,” he said.

Kids were filling up the seats around him and Axel noticed Roxas mouthing the words again.  
He knew he was being an asshole but hey, Axel was a Silhouette and he liked to see people suffer one way or another, even though it was the person he cared about most. He leant down and his jade eyes sparkled with amusement.   
“If you want me to move Roxy, just say the ‘magic’ words.”  
Roxas scowled and Axel leant back and laughed, Roxas said in a hushed whisper, “Axel, PLEASE, get off my desk!”

The red head leant back, put a hand to his ear, and said in a loud voice, “Huh, I’m sorry Roxas, I couldn’t hear you, you are going to have to speak a little louder.” He could hear Roxas perfectly fine but it was just so hilarious to watch.  
Roxas’ forehead began to shine with nervous sweat and the teacher drawled turning from the board. “Alright Class, get out your textbooks and turn to page 228 and read the first two paragraphs.”

He turned back to the board and wrote something upon it. Roxas pushed his chair back abruptly and pulled the book from his bag.  
Axel peeked at what he was doing and grinned maliciously.  
Roxas held the book in his lap and scanned the pages until he found the designated one and he began to read.

Axel snaked his hand out to start pulling the book away and Roxas jerked the book away, which make the girl beside him glance at him curiously. He blushed and turned to the wall and Axel reached out again and caught the top of the book  
Roxas froze and he didn’t know whether or not to look at the book or to the annoying Silhouette still sitting on his desk. Axel slowly lifted the book upwards and Roxas didn’t let go.

His eyes widened as he hands went up with the book until he was holding it above his head. He tried to pull it down but Axel only chuckled, trying not to burst out in laughter. More kids began to look his way and some were sniggering while the teachers back was turned.

Axel dropped the book immediately when the older man turned back around and pushed his glasses back up his nose and said, “Alright another two minutes and I will start to ask questions.”

He went to his desk to retrieve something then went back to the board.   
Axel yanked the book out of Roxas’ hand and threw it on the floor two rows upwards. It landed with an audible ‘thump’ and half the class turned to Roxas who was slinking down in his seat.  
If only Axel was visible.

The teacher spun around at the noise and his eyes narrowed at Roxas as he got out of his seat and scurried to retrieve his textbook, he apologised and went back to hide in his seat.  
Kids were still laughing at him and Axel chuckled. “You are red as a tomato Roxas, whatever is the matter?”

Roxas wanted to murder the bastard; everybody thought he was crazy already.  
The teacher grabbed a ruler and used it as a pointer on the board when he started to ask questions.  
At a question about natural disasters, Axel grabbed Roxas’ hand and pulled it upright. Roxas couldn’t even see the teacher, let alone the board with Axel in the road and he cursed Axel to hell when the teacher said, “Yes Roxas, so eager to answer this question what is it?”

Roxas couldn’t see the question as Axel got in his road. He looked at his book and stammered, guessing right off the top of his head.   
“U-uh, earthquakes are mainly found on the boundaries of the tectonic plates, they cause vibrations when the plates collide with each other and magnitudes vary on how much power is put behind those collisions.”

“Very good, Roxas,” the teacher said. Roxas felt the relief humming in his chest.   
“Oh that’s my little smart Roxy,” Axel cooed leaning down and hugging Roxas’ head, he stroked Roxas’ tousled locks.  
Roxas tried to pull away without being to conspicuous, and thought if he swept his arms across the desk, he could make Axel lose his balance while just looking like he was sweeping something off his desk.  
He tried.

His hand crushed against Axel, he grabbed his fist to his chest refraining from swearing, Axel growled in his ear, “You know I’m not that easy to get rid of, Roxas.”  
His hot breath tingled Roxas’ chest and despite himself, the blonde shivered.   
Axel pulled away and his face was dark and seductive. Roxas clamped his wrist tighter.   
He shouldn’t forgive him; Axel was pissing him off and making him look like an utter fool!

Roxas was about to open his mouth before Axel looked up abruptly his eyes growing darker and blacker. Roxas was alarmed when there was a slight knock to the classroom door.  
The teacher shook his head, walked over to it and opened the door. Roxas nearly fell out of his chair when the short form of Zexion strode into the door and handed the Teacher a note.

Axel was on his feet and Roxas was throwing things into his bag when Zexion said in a smooth voice, “Roxas Strife has permission to leave, he has urgent business to attend to.” Zexion saw Roxas come hurrying down the aisle.   
“What the hell is going on?” Axel barked.  
Roxas was stunned and he stammered as they walked to the door. “W-what are you doing here Zexion, w-why are you like this?” The smaller man grabbed his upper arm, directed him out and shut the classroom door.  
He then whispered in an urgent voice, “We have trouble.”

*****

Sora ran his fingers through his brunette locks and stared down at the small novel he was given to read as an assignment. He gazed back exasperatedly to the Teacher who said that they will have to do an assignment on it mid-term.

Olette leant over to him and whispered, “It’s alright Sora, the one we had last year was huge.” She petted his arm and Sora whispered, “Oh what I would give to get out of this stupid class.”  
Sora hated English.

Olette looked up to the door when there was a slight knock, Sora gazed up slowly and jumped back in his seat when he instantly recognised the young sandy haired Silhouette his brother lived with.  
He looked panicked and overwhelmed and Sora realised that he was very real and standing in his classroom door. The Silhouette chuckled nervously as the Teacher eyes him off sharply and he handed a note to her. “Sora Strife, h-he needs to come with me, like now.”

Sora hesitated but the Silhouette shot him a panicked looked and through the window, Sora saw Roxas, Axel and the other short Silhouette Zexion stop outside.   
The older Strife brother was up immediately, he pulled up his bag and Olette said in a worried voice, “Sora what’s the matter?”  
He didn’t answer and Sora took the opportunity and nearly ran out of the classroom.

At least he got out of English.  
.,.,.,.,.,.

“Xemnas has escaped!” Zexion said as they reached the corridor. Roxas faltered. Sora squeaked.   
“Escaped? I thought you had all this settled?” 

Zexion looked at Sora. “You actually thought you were safe?” he said disdainfully. Sora didn’t have an answer. Zexion continued in a cold voice; “We were only temporarily safe, even then we were in danger, now” he stopped before adding, “I don’t know how to describe the situation we are in.” 

Demyx looked terrified and he glanced up at Axel, “What do you think we should do Axel? Xemnas is still too strong for all of uswe couldn’t even beat Saix.” Axel frowned at Demyx then looked back to Roxas   
“I have to protect Roxas as well.”

Zexion rolled his eyes and said, “And the family, I know Axel, you care more about them than you do us, I really do under”  
Axel shot him a murderous glance and the heat intensified in the corridor. “DO NOT” He quieted, “Say that Zexion, I will do what I can for everybody.” He gazed at everyone individually. “We will all work together, first off we need to distract the parents and make sure they do not get home, clean the mess” his whisper plan was cut off by the brother’s outcry.

“Mess!” squawked Sora and Roxas simultaneously and Sora put his head in his hands.   
“I don’t think I can take much more of this, and on top of that, I think I will fail school.”  
“You will do better if you shut your mouth, human!” Zexion barked roughly and Sora cringed back at the harshness, he remembered that the Silhouettes greatly disliked him and they weren’t ready to forgive or even help him because he was friends with the Spirits.

Axel nodded them away and the group went out to the front of the school where Roxas, Demyx and Sora broke away. Zexion looked around cautiously. “You will have to keep an eye out, Axel and report anything you see, go seek out Twilight Town,” he said to Axel.  
No sooner had the others left, Axel pushed Roxas aside.

From the shadows of the trees, Saix appeared with a smirk on his face.  
His yellow eyes gleamed with malice and he barked in a rough, mocking voice, “Are you afraid yet, redhead? Afraid that Xemnas has escaped and is coming for you and your pet?” He laughed low, circling around them, ready to spring. “I have been given orders not to hurt the boy, but it doesn’t exclude you, Axel.” Saix sneered, revealing his long jagged teeth and leapt at Axel.  
Axel caught the blue haired Silhouette in his arms and they both fell backwards onto the grass.

A loud snarl ripped the air and Axel shouted, “Roxas get out of here!”  
Roxas bloody knew he couldn’t leave, but he couldn’t be in direct vicinity with the Silhouettes fighting yet again.

Roxas took a helpless step backwards, Saix pinned Axel beneath him, his long black claws dug into Axel’s shoulders.  
Both faces went devoid of colour and their eyes rolled to the back of their heads and went black with white pupils.

The black eyes seemed to fill with jet liquid and it ran over the brims of their eyes and trailed down their cheeks.  
Saix had Axel down. The red head struggled vainly but Saix had the upper hand.  
With the sudden urge to protect Axel overwhelmed him, Roxas spun around and in the trees saw a branch, broken and hanging from a tree.  
Without even thinking, Roxas ran over, snapped it from the tree and ran back over the grass. Putting all his effort behind this branch, he swung it and smacked it over Saix’s head.

There was a great big ‘thwump’ and the branch splintered into three parts. Black stained Saix’s sky blue hair and it bristled at the back dangerously before glowing yellow eyes were turned to him.

Roxas dropped the stump of the branch on the grass. Axel scrambled to his knees shouting, “Saix, you bastard, it’s me that you want!”  
He lunged but was too late as Saix jumped to his feet and caught Roxas’ by the throat. His fangs dripped with black and saliva and he snarled in the blonde’s face. “Maybe it’s you that I should kill, you little heathen.”

Just his voice terrified Roxas and his putrid breath was making him lose his breath that much faster as Saix’s hands closed around his throat tighter.  
Roxas started to go red in the cheeks and through his red, hazy vision, Roxas saw Axel preparing to launch an attack.

Fire grew around him as the instinct to protect kicked into full swing. But before Axel could full out attack, there was a blast of black shadows that enveloped all of them, Saix was ripped away from the blonde, and Roxas was pushed back to Axel.  
In a flurry of red, Vincent appeared.  
His dark crimson eyes were focused on Saix who hissed, his hair bristled out in all directions, his teeth protruded out of his mouth.  
He was berserk.

Vincent said in his frightening cool voice and said directly to Axel:  
“There is one place where you know that will keep both of you safe Axel, I do not want to see you fighting.”  
Axel clamped his arms around Roxas and nodded, “Right.”  
Roxas looked around in panic and said, “W-where, A-Axel what are we-?”  
His unfinished question went unheard and Axel lifted one of his hands and dragged his fingers through the air.

Gold glimmered around them and Roxas saw an almost invisible golden curtain open up in the air in front of them, beyond was dark and luminous.  
Saix roared when he saw Axel do this and he went to go leap at Axel before they disappeared but Vincent directed his power and knocked Saix right back off his feet. The mongrel Silhouette hit a tree and Vincent said, “I will be okay Axel, just go.”

Roxas was unsure of what was happening.   
“I parted the molecules holding this world together; it’s what the gold dust is for,” Axel said as he pushed Roxas forward through the wispy, golden veil and went in after him.  
Behind them, the veil disappeared and the two vanished from sight and the world altogether.


	18. The 'In Between'

Zexion skimmed along the shadows of the western wall and ranged out his senses looking for danger.  
 _“Do you sense Xemnas?”_ Demyx’s voice sounded weak and afraid as the shadows whipped through the trees. 

_“No, the house is quiet, he isn’t on the property,”_ Zexion replied in a grim voice.  
The two Silhouettes manifested in the shadows and strode over to the silent porch. The door hung open on its hinges, the glass in the doors shattered.  
The inside of the house had been ransacked; every piece of furniture was upturned and anything that was made of glass was shattered, scattered over the ground.

Demyx looked around at the mess and said, “How are we going to do this Zexion? We don’t know where Xemnas or Saix is they could return at any moment and murder us.”  
Demyx looked around the house nervously; Zexion strode right in and observed the damage.

There was no way that he would let Demyx see that he was scared as well. This situation could turn on them in a second and the indigo haired Silhouette was already struggling to steady, even breaths.  
The two walked in and the sandy haired demon called out softly. “Hello! Xigbar? Marly, Larxene?”

There was no answer and Demyx spoke through the eerie silence in a growing, strained voice, “where is everybody? You don’t think...”  
A sudden noise made both Silhouettes spin around, ready to attack but they dropped the defence immediately when from the kitchen Naminé appeared.

Her face was tight with panic and her usually combed blonde hair was tousled, her eyes unusually large for her face. She gazed at the Silhouettes.  
“He left not too long ago, he ruined and destroyed everything, _he broke the barrier,”_ she said in a quiet, strangled voice. Demyx sputtered stepping backwards.

Zexion’s eyes went icy and he repeated in a stony voice, “Xemnas-broke-the-barrier?”  
The Spirit nodded frantically, her dinner plate sized eyes darting through the house. “He pulverised it, he destroyed Sora’s room a-and Roxas’.”  
Demyx’s eyes widened and Zexion barked, “Get in there.”

Naminé scuttled alongside the two Silhouettes and when they reached the door of Roxas’ room, they found the door completely ripped from the frame, lying in the mess of the collapsed roof.  
Naminé stood on the other side of the hallway peeking in.  
“You’re going to gather your friends Naminé; this is far too dangerous for all of us to be fighting with each other,” Zexion said. She nodded and misted away. Demyx turned into the bedroom.

Roxas’ belongings were thrown everywhere, his bed upturned and ripped to shreds. Books were thrown everywhere and the desk had large gouges ripped from the wood like somebody had dragged claws through it. The television was cracked and Roxas’ prized Ipod station was pulled apart and tossed carelessly on the floor.  
Zexion observed the mess and inclined his head toward Demyx when the younger Silhouette stammered, “Why do you think he’s done this?”  
“I…don’t know” Zexion admitted “But what I am sure of is that Roxas is Xemnas’ intended target.”

*****

 _“He’s gone. Face it Xigbar, if he finds us we are goners for sure.”_  
Shadows stalked the underground stations and two figures emerged, one yellow eye and two acid green eyes lit up in the darkness.

Larxene stepped out from the shadows into the dim light. Xigbar was partly concealed in the darkness.  
“We can’t simply lose him; his power is too great just to disappear off our radars.” he said roughly. Larxene sniffed.  
“What about the guy in red, we wouldn’t know he was there if he was standing a hair breadth away from us.” Her eyes were anxious as she glanced around. “How about we get out of here, and I’m getting more worried by the moment.”

Xigbar readjusted his guns and peered left and right down the dark alleys. “Don’t give up that easily Larx, we just keep out of sight and see if we can find him.”  
Larxene’s eyes narrowed at her gnarled companion and snapped in a harsh whisper, “What happens if he sets the dog on us? He would smell us instantly.” Xigbar paused and Larxene kept going. “Your guns won’t be able to subdue him Xigbar, and we are underground so my stronger lightning attacks are useless. Oh and consider that the _sun is out, so we will be totally fucked.”_

Xigbar dropped his guns to his sides and Larxene held her knives loosely between her fingers, “I say get out of here before we are the first to be killed. I can’t leave the others to fight, especially Nami.”  
Xigbar’s eye darted around cautiously once more and said in a hushed voice, _“Fine!_ we will go Larxene, but I will not let go of this.”

The two Silhouettes turned around and walked back into the shadows.  
Neither one saw as a large shadow ran from the walls and two large glowing red blades erupted out and illuminated the tunnel.  
When the alarms were raised, it was too late and a piercing scream filled the tunnels, heard throughout Station Heights.

*****

Sora ran through the trees in the forest next to the mansion.  
His breath was caught in his throat and he forced his aching legs to continue. The trees started to thin out and Sora broke through the line of trees running over the lawn to the front door.  
He threw his pack down, jumped up the stairs in one leap and fell into the house. The air was different, tense and fear permeated the house. Sora looked around the ransacked house and swallowed the large lump in his throat that threatened to choke him.  
He ran his fingers through his hair and then called out in a voice barely above a whisper.  
“Anybody here?”

He didn’t receive an answer and Sora ran his tongue over his torn lip and felt the scarred rip.  
He knew he was going to make a habit out of that.  
He walked through the kitchen and his sandshoes crunched over the shards of glass lying on the floorboards. A breeze came down the hall and Sora froze on the spot feeling his chest constrict. He sunk his teeth into his lip and his eyes scanned the ruined kitchen and lounge room.

“Hello!”  
His voice was slightly louder and this time he had provoked a response. But his heart skipped a beat then thundered in his ears when he saw Riku appear in a gust of freezing air. The windows beside the door started to crack with the intensity of the cold.  
His dark aqua eyes bore into Sora’s powder blue.  
“W-What happened, Riku?” Sora whispered.

The silver haired Spirit shook his head and Sora cringed when Riku glared at his lip. He pursed his lips together, vainly trying to hide the damage that the Spirit had done.  
Riku finally spoke in a low voice. “He broke away from the attic and deteriorated the barriers constructed by us and the demons. He _destroyed everything.”_  
Riku took a step forward. Sora bowed his head and took a step back. He averted his eyes and refused to look at the Spirit in front of him. He had a slight flutter of fear that bolted through his gut. 

“Maybe it’s better if you stay away from me Riku,” Sora said, looking at the floor.  
There was no reply and Sora lifted his head slightly, seeing Riku still standing there with his eyes still dark. He had an unfathomable expression on his face and Sora hesitated muttering indecipherably under his breath.

He backed away hearing more glass crush beneath his feet as Riku said in a smooth voice, “I’m not sorry for what I did to you Sora. It would have made you open your eyes and see that _girl_ doesn’t care about you _personally._ She is after good looks and a face, and you would give her that _goddamned face_ Sora. She still wouldn’t care.”

Sora snapped his head up. “What? And you do Riku? You can’t care; you are _dead_. When I move away, _you will still be here._ You are jealous of a gi-” Sora stopped dead before he finished his sentence and he glared at Riku who simply shook his head, his long silver tresses falling across his face. 

“Always so slow Sora. You honestly think you can walk away from all of _this?”_ he gestured to the house around them. “You have been bounded by the Spirits, Sora, just as Roxas has been bounded to the Demons. We, together, are _inseparable.”_  
He took a step towards Sora who was rooted to the spot. “I don’t belong to you Riku,” he whispered softly.

The Spirit chuckled wryly and spoke in a smug voice, stepping closer. “You _do_ belong to me Sora, in everybody’s eyes, including yours.” His face was turned up in a cruel smirk and Sora was looking up at the ghostly Riku. Instantly his feet and his lip started to hurt like hell. The sting in his feet indicated that the burns had returned.  
Sora lost his balance and Riku caught him. “I make everything go away Sora.”  
The pain vanished and Sora looked up at the Spirit helplessly and struggled to get back onto his feet but Riku held firm.

 _“I am everything,”_ Riku whispered in his ear. _“You need me more than ever. To get out of this, you need my help, you depend on me, just the way Roxas depends on Axel.”_  
Sora was helpless and all he could do was stare at the floor in utter bewilderment, the growing fear and panic that gnawed on his stomach.

*****

“How could this happen?” Vexen demanded irritably, walking across the freezing cold lake. Not that he minded anyway.  
Marluxia treaded carefully through the watery patches of grass while Luxord simply summoned a card that swept him right into the opposite trees.  
“I just don’t understand why we all separated the way we did.” Luxord said. He flicked out his cards and looked at them with worry glinting in his eyes and he flicked them back into his sleeve. “It’s what Xemnas wanted us to do; he wanted to separate us so we could be easy pickings.” He sighed and shook his head. 

“Luxord is right, we are here, god knows where Larxene, Xigbar, Demyx or Zexion went,” Marluxia added. He looked up to the canopy nervously. “Saix could be absolutely anywhere and Xemnas might already have Axel and Roxas, he knows that they can both travel to the ‘In Between’.”

“So it is true,” a voice broke out through the shadows and made all three Silhouettes turn around. Vincent appeared in a flurry of red and black and he strode towards them.  
Marluxia nearly gagged on the pure power Vincent possessed and he managed to gasp out “You won’t hurt them will you?”

Vincent chuckled darkly underneath the large red collar. “They possess a gift, one that is valued among our people.”  
Marluxia looked agitated and Luxord said in a surprised voice, “People? You mean? There are more of us out there? We aren’t the only ones?”

Vincent shook his head his red eyes flashing irritably at the amount of questions and snapped, “You all might not survive yet.”  
Vexen snorted and folded his arms. “So basically, you are going to save Axel and his pet and let the rest of us perish?”  
Vincent shrugged his shoulders casually. “More or less, I might be in a good mood and speak for you all, but you are getting on my nerves.” 

Marluxia barked out in a worried voice, “But it isn’t our fault. We were sick people put in a hospital that _he_ ruled, many of us died or became demons.”  
At the word ‘Demon’ Vincent blanched and said in an angry voice, “We are not _Demons_ , we are _Silhouettes.”_

Marluxia recoiled away. “I am a Master for a reason, but never, in my lifetime have I come across a more talented group of Silhouettes, so cruelly treated and living in fear. We were given a second chance for a reason.”

His eyes were still mad as he said, “But you were made illegally and that goes out of my hands and into the other two Masters to decide as well; it may not be a pretty verdict.”  
Luxord’s hand twitched, habit made him whip out his cards to make him look calm. But Vincent may take it the wrong way and possibly attack them.

They still didn’t know whether this Silhouette was on their team.  
Vincent chuckled at the Silhouettes uncertainty. “We should get back to the house, disaster will strike again and we need to be prepared for this, but first I need to go somewhere else.”

He swung his cloak around in a large red billowing motion and Marluxia whispered to Luxord, “Where is he going?”  
The three Silhouettes watched as the Master approached the creek and ran his golden, gauntlet fingers down the air in front of him.  
Gold misted out and engulfed the man and a soft, wispy curtain peeled away revealing another dimension. Vincent took one step into the veiled doorway and it sealed shut behind him.

Marluxia gazed back to his companions. “Well, I don’t think anywhere is safe with that guy around,” he said. 

*****

Roxas tumbled over lush green grass and before he managed to fall onto his face, a pair of sinewy arms shot out and grabbed him. The blonde was brought up to his feet. He looked around at his surroundings in amazement.

The lush green grass stretched on right to the horizon where a large, hunter’s moon hung lazily in the sky. A gentle, refreshing breeze tumbled through the grass and enveloped Roxas in a smooth embrace and his lungs instantly breathed in nice, crisp, fresh air.  
He looked to the midnight canvas above and saw a splash of stars decorating the sky in multitudes of different patterns and constellations.  
It was breathtaking, Axel had been right.  
Paradise.

Axel laughed softly into Roxas’ ear and whispered, “Impressive isn’t it?” The blonde turned his head to look at the red head beside him.  
“It’s more than impressive Axel, it’s absolutely-” he trailed off and held out his arms. “There aren’t words that describe this.” Axel chuckled as Roxas finished. “I see why Xemnas wants to be here.”

Axel recoiled at the name and he spat with a little malice, “He doesn’t want to be here because of the beauty Roxas. This place is full of magic and power, and that is what he wants.”

Roxas looked up at the demon beside him and smiled softly; the luminous light was framing the Silhouettes face and almost made him look calm and totally at peace. The slight breeze ruffled his erratic, red locks and his green eyes were soft and sparkling.  
He smiled down to Roxas when he knew he was being watched, he said in a soft voice, “This isn’t it, Roxas. Watch this.”

Axel grabbed the blonde’s hand and they walked through the emerald green grass, the horizon seemed to go forever on and Axel had a grin on his face. He held out his free hand and brought it to his mouth. _“Sunrise.”_ he breathed onto his hand. Sand gold dust sparkled and flew from his hand. Instantly the sky began to brighten.  
Roxas gasped and looked around him in wonder, the midnight sky began to glow and streaks of pink and gold flooded the earth.

The moon sank beneath the horizon only to be instantly replaced by a magnificent glowing, golden orb.  
The sun rose over the horizon and bathed the land in golden light and the colours streaked across the sky in numerous patterns and shades of colours Roxas couldn’t even identify.  
His mouth hung open, gaping like a fish.

He stared up at Axel who simply laughed. “That there is simple magic, which is why you need the gold hands,” he said. He held out his hand to Roxas and wiggled the glittering golden fingers. “Say a setting, place, hell, anything and it will change to what you like. Go on, try it.”

Roxas hesitated and held out his free hand and whispered incoherently, _“The beach.”_  
He blew from the palm of his hand and the golden dust swept around the pair. The sun rose ever higher and the green grass shrank away, leaving golden sand around their feet. The horizon turned bottle green then to a deep sparkling shade of blue. Waves crashed into the sand and enveloped Roxas’ feet.

Axel looked around and said, “Haven’t been here for a while.” He bent down. Roxas was still acutely aware of their linked hands.  
Axel sifted through the honey gold sand, brought out a vivid coloured seashell and handed it to Roxas.  
Roxas looked at the swirled shell, vivid purple and blue twisted into the pale creamy colour of the shell. Roxas smiled at it and put it in the pockets of his pants. “I’ll keep that for future reference,” he chuckled with a smile.

Axel looked back out to the pristine ocean and then lowered his head and saw the water lapping around his boots. “I never really could enjoy this magical place. Having no heart sorta threw everything out.” He chuckled wryly and looked back at his surroundings.  
“Can you enjoy it now? Axel?” Roxas asked. The blonde looked at their intertwined hands for a moment and debated whether or not he should pull it away.

He faked a genuine smile when Axel turned back to look at him and the Silhouette simply shrugged. “I guess so, now that I have somebody who can travel with me.” He lifted his head and quirked his mouth to the side. “At least I have _somebody.”_

Roxas felt his gut clench and Axel held out his hand and whispered, _“Hunter’s Moon.”_  
The beach swept away, the setting changed to what it was when they had arrived and Axel said, “I like it better this way, sun hurts my eyes and I like the darkness a whole lot better.”  
Roxas laughed quietly as he spread his hands through the cool grass, then lifted them as a stream of fireflies illuminated the dark space.  
He couldn’t believe his eyes, shaking his head in doubt; Roxas reached up to his arm and pinched himself. He cringed at the sudden sharp pain and Axel frowned, “What did you do that for?”

Roxas bit his lip then admitted sheepishly, “I had to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming.” Axel smiled a genuine smile, revealing his long pointed teeth.  
“It gets like that sometimes, even I have to remind myself that this isn’t a dream,” he said softly.

Axel walked through the grass and tugged Roxas along after him. Through the silver moonlight a large willow tree manifested and up in the cosmos Roxas saw several planets come into view and glow behind the moon.  
Stars scattered the sky and through the speckled midnight blue, the blonde saw a shooting star.  
 _“Make a wish, Roxas.”_ He said to himself.  
Axel looked through the night. “I hope you made a wish Roxas, the stars came over,” he whispered.

They walked through the grass and stopped under the tree. Roxas spoke in a thoughtful voice, “Why don’t we just get everybody and bring them here?”  
Axel sighed. “I have tried, but have failed. They weren’t chosen to come here; you are the only other person I know that can travel here.”  
His green eyes scanned the beautiful setting behind him then he whispered, “I’m so glad that it is you Roxas, I don’t think I have felt so” He thought his words through. “So… at peace.”

There was a moment of complete silence and Roxas sighed, “I would stay here.”  
Axel nodded. “But that can’t happen Roxas; you have obligations and so do I, Family is what keeps me going back.” 

He shrugged, his crimson spikes ruffling in the wind. “The others aren’t related to me, but for a long time they were all I had, still are.” Axel’s eyes bore down into Roxas’ sapphire and whispered, “But that is about to change now.”  
Axel stepped the foot separating them and Roxas looked up at him with wide eyes. This time it was the real deal.  
Nobody would stop them.  
 _Nobody._

Axel leant closer and the silver moon hanging in the sky illuminated the deep emerald green of his eyes. Roxas found his heart going traitor and he rose up onto his tiptoes expectantly. His mind screeched at him.  
 _“You are going to let this happen, what will be the consequence? Why don’t you listen?”_  
His conscience was ignored and Roxas closed his eyes when Axel’s incredibly soft lips hit his. The feeling almost knocked Roxas off his feet as a warm, fuzzy feeling erupted in his chest, blooming emotions making him giddy.

Axel was a drug and Roxas found himself already terribly addicted.  
Axel’s lips graced Roxas’. They fit perfectly together, melding to each other’s in a comfortable motion and Roxas arched up to get more. It was bliss.  
He wanted more Axel.

The blonde pulled his hand out of Axel’s and grasped the front of the Silhouettes cloak, trying to pull him down further. Axel pulled his lips away slightly and leant his forehead against Roxas’. “You’re a good kisser,” he whispered softly. Roxas whined like a child.  
“More,” he demanded.

Axel chuckled then the pair instantly broke apart when there was an impatient cough from behind them.  
Axel’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Roxas went a deep shade of red and stammered, “V-Vincent? W-what-” He didn’t finish when Vincent started to walk toward them.  
“Happy minute is over, now if you can get out of each other’s throats, we have serious issues to be dealing with,” he said in a deathly smooth voice.

Axel stepped in front of Roxas. “You can travel here? I didn’t-”  
Vincent held up a golden gauntlet hand and barked, “We are the only three to ever have the ability to travel here, you are a very hard Silhouette to track, Axel.”  
His red eyes narrowed into slits. “Now, back to a relevant, important discussion?” He looked Axel up and down. “You cannot help yourself.”  
Roxas sighed, good mood ruined.

Vincent thrust out his gauntlet and the moonlight dissipated, the scenery swept away. Roxas felt dizzy watching it.  
When it finally settled the scenery came visible and still.  
They were in a dark, wispy cavern. A large black cave was illuminated by an eerie green light.  
Roxas was mystified at the sudden gloomy change. Axel and Vincent walked over to the source of the green light.

Roxas scuttled after them and reaching Axel’s side, the blonde saw the Silhouette’s features had changed and were shadowed. Anger was evident but so was reluctance. Over the line of the rocks, Roxas saw an acid green river flowing through the cave.  
It was wispy and cloudy. Roxas saw numerous _things_ swimming around.

“You know this place all too well,” Vincent said, walking up to the rocks and glaring into the green water. “A Seeker not doing so well?”  
Axel scowled and said, “I can’t do anything, you know that. What can you do Vincent?”  
The red clad Silhouette sighed and dipped his golden hand into the water, which remained the same acidic green colour.  
As he pulled it out, a feathery like cloud struggled between the claws. It wiggled desperately trying to crawl up his arm but Vincent threw it back down and said, “I am a Seeker also.”

Roxas shied away when Vincent turned his glowing red eyes upon him and his voice seemed to echo throughout the dark cave, “Come here Roxas, put your hand in this.”  
He gestured to the green river and Axel said, “If anything happen-”  
Vincent silenced him and gestured Roxas forward.

The blonde gasped when he was pulled forward by shadows and he halted in front of the menacing Silhouette.  
Vincent stared at him intently then pointed to the river, “Put your hand in.”  
Roxas hesitated and glanced back up to Axel who nodded and whispered, “It’s alright Roxas, if anything goes wrong, I will protect you.”  
He hesitated once more but he climbed the rocks and tentatively dipped his index finger into the green water.

There was a sudden rumble in the cave and a roar filled Roxas’ ears.  
The water wrapped around his hand and the green water bubbled and darkened considerably until it was a deep cerulean blue. It bubbled, Roxas drew away his eyes widening in shock, and Vincent said, “Doesn’t that make things infinitely better?”  
Roxas ripped his arm away and Axel breathed, “You are a Reaper, Roxas, you can bring souls and power back to the living.”

Roxas felt dizzy and he watched the electric blue river flow fast through the cave. His conscience wouldn’t be able to handle all this mental onslaught. Magic realms, Silhouettes, Spirits, danger that could ultimately spell out death, having the ability to raise the dead.

Roxas stumbled back with his mind whirling, it was in turmoil.  
Axel stepped forward and caught the blonde before he fell back. “I know it’s confusing Roxas, but I promise, I will explain everything,” Axel whispered.

All Roxas could do was shake his head helplessly.  
What was there to do for one pathetic human being in a supernatural world?


	19. Trouble at Home

Sora thundered down the stairs when he heard a hesitant call come down the stairs.  
“Hello! Anybody here?”  
He ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit he had developed as a child and it had stuck right on through his teenage years. He jumped the last three stairs and skidded out into the sitting area where he saw Olette looking around the mess with her green eyes wide with shock when she saw the damage.  
Sora inwardly cursed to himself and spoke in a shaking voice, betraying his concern. “W-What are you doing here Olette?”

The girl calculated the mess and said in a small, scared voice, “You left so suddenly and I was worried. Did something happen with those ‘Demons’?” She placed her bag down on the kitchen counter.   
“I suggest you don’t do that Olette, the others aren’t very, ‘friendly’,” Sora said in an unnerved voice.

Olette scoffed and glared at Sora. “Nonsense, I care about you too much to let you handle all this alone; we need to have this cleaned up before your parents get home or you will be screwed.” Her eyes wandered up the stairs.   
Sora stepped beside her and said in a quiet voice, “You just want to see what they look like don’t you?”

Olette glanced back at him. “I’ve never met a Supernatural being before, Sora. I am intrigued by this, always have been. But the house was always locked up so I never had a chance to come here and investigate,” she breathed.  
Sora inwardly sighed and hung his head. “You have to promise that you won’t go running off and telling everybody Olette. The demons are Immortals, they can walk in the sunlight and they will be able to track you down.”

Sora found his voice sounding so glum and defeated, and with Olette not even paying attention to his warnings, it made it worse. Sora was tired and over the constant threat of danger, it had mentally wiped him out. Now Roxas had totally disappeared from the face of the earth (literally), so he doubted that he would return in time to help.

The brunette jumped a foot in the air when a warm gust of air swept down the hall and in a plume of black shadows, a Silhouette stepped out. Instinct told Sora to recoil away and Olette clapped her hands over her mouth her eyes bulging.  
It was only the young one, Demyx.

But his face was parch white and his dark navy eyes were narrowed with suspicion as he regarded Olette.   
“Who’s your friend, Spirit Boy?” he asked. Sora gaped like a fish and tried to stutter out an answer. But by that time, Olette had unclasped her hands and stared in Demyx in wonderment, “Is-is he one of them?”

Sora gulped and then said in breathless voice, “He isn’t one of mine, Olette. This is one of-one of the-” he stopped then added in a tired sigh, “One of the Silhouettes.”  
Olette snapped her head to glare at Sora but her eyes glinted and she said turning back, “So your one of Roxas’ friends?”

Demyx frowned, his face contorting horrifically. “How do you know Roxas?” he snapped. The girl kept her fear locked in her chest as she replied calmly.   
“Roxas comes to my school, but I had met him earlier on in the week when the family moved here.”

She took a tiny step forward and said, attempting a friendly, determined voice, “I am Olette, what is your name?”  
Demyx frowned as the black leaking down his cheeks, watching Olette’s tiniest movements. Sora put his arm on hers and said in a soft, frantic voice, “You should stop it, he is getting pissed off and it wouldn’t be long for the others to come and defend him.”  
Olette pulled her arm away and looked into Sora’s powder blue eyes, “You need to be friendly towards them to gain their trust Sora, you might need their help.”

She turned back to the Silhouette as he finally said in a feral snap, “Demyx.” Olette heaved in a deep breath and she stepped over the shattered barrier. “  
It’s nice to meet you Demyx,” she said.

She stepped too close and suddenly Demyx flew in a defensive rage. His eyes went pitch black and the veins shot down his face. He lifted into the air slightly with the shadows whipping around and he parted his lips and revealed long, elongated fangs.  
Olette doubled back, the shadows whipping her hair. Sora raced to her side.   
“Olette, I told you not to!” he whispered frantically.

As expected at Demyx’s outburst there was another rush of shadows and the shorter one, Zexion, appeared with the magic bursting through his fingers, he was scowling also revealing his sharp teeth and he snapped harshly, “Stay away. Stay _away.”_

Before Zexion could launch an attack, the front door burst open again. Olette covered her ears. Sora saw the shadows sweep in and manifest into three Silhouettes. Olette looked at him fearfully but before the brother could explain the heightening confrontation, the pink haired Silhouette Marluxia stormed in and spoke furiously to his companions.

“They will leave us to fight this fight alone, now that _Master_ can travel there. He will keep Roxas and Axel and leave us all to _die.”_  
“You don’t know Axel that well Marluxia, he won’t abandon us!” Luxord fumed.  
“He won’t care,” interjected Vexen, “I won’t be surprised if they have thrown themselves at each other and are going at like fucking rabb” Vexen trailed off, his glowing green eyes sliding in the direction of Sora and Olette.

There was a menacing hiss and the three Silhouettes ganged up, flanking each other. Sora pulled Olette back behind him.   
“You do not have business here,” he said in a firm voice.  
“Yes we do!” Marluxia pouted, his eyes shading to a more azure blue. “It is our house that you are intruding in.”   
His eyes lingered on Olette and Sora knew that he wouldn’t be a considerable threat. He also knew that the card wielding one was a friend of Roxas and no doubt bound by a promise of some sort not to harm the family. But he wasn’t sure about the sour, blonde one with the icy green eyes.

Olette peered over his shoulder and Zexion snapped at the other Silhouettes stalking forward.   
“Have you heard any other news of the others?”  
Luxord whipped out his cards and contemplated them for a moment then spoke. “The Master, we speak of in particular, has the ability to travel to the realm of the In Between, we do not know if he intends on bringing Axel and Roxas back.”

Zexion frowned and then exclaimed in a gruff voice. “How we even know that they went there, I told them to scout Twilight Town and search out for the Parents, Saix and Xemnas!”  
“That’s a lot for only two people Zexion,” Marluxia said doubtfully.   
The smaller Silhouette glared at him. “It’s Axel, he has eyes to spare anywhere, Roxas may be a little more dimmer sensed than us but he would prove to be a good tool.”

Sora leered at the Silhouettes menacingly. “My brother is not a pawn in a” he said in a steadily growing voice. “He isn’t a pawn in a game, he is a human that has been wrapped and warped into a world of Supernatural magic and it isn’t fair on him, or me, my family and friends!” he exclaimed furiously. He folded his arms across his chest.

“Roxas is our friend Zexion, he won’t abandon us and Axel wouldn’t either. He is probably just as scared as the rest of us, he is the one Xemnas wants after all,” Demyx said, ignoring Sora. Zexion thrust out an arm and Demyx hushed immediately. He looked down to the floor with downcast eyes.

Suddenly Zexion’s eyes flew to the stairs and the temperature in the sitting area/kitchen island bar dropped to freezing instantaneously.  
This is what Sora had been dreading.  
There was a loud clattering of footsteps that echoed right down the stairwell, it was abrupt and loud and there was a gush of wind that buffeted Olette and Sora. Through wispy white smoke, a shape appeared and Kairi stepped out.

Her eyes were bright with worry as she spoke to the congregated Silhouettes: “We have another two walking up the terraces scouting the forests, two gorillas; burly ones.”  
Demyx looked up. “That makes Xaldin and Lexaeus, which means we are missing Roxas…” he trailed off.  
“Axel,” Zexion added.  
“Xigbar,” Luxord said with narrowed eyes.  
“And Larxene!” exclaimed Marluxia. “I didn’t see Larxene go off with anybody else, she would have come right back here!”

Sora looked back when he felt another gust of cold air and he saw Naminé standing beside Kairi with her eyes wide and fearful. “My sister isn’t missing, is she?”  
“Nami,” Sora added helplessly. “We don’t know yet, they just haven’t come home yet.”  
Olette stepped away from Sora.

“Will the wonders never cease to end?” she asked quietly.  
She stared at Kairi and Naminé who both eyed her wearily. She cringed away.   
“He won’t be happy, Sora,” Naminé said.  
“Speaking of said _he_ ,” whispered Kairi looking to the stairs. “You better get out of here girly.” She glanced at Olette then to Sora. “You are going to be in so much trouble, Sora,” she said, cringing.

Demyx smirked at the pair, taunting the brunette. “Relationship on the rocks is it?” His sneer made Sora’s stomach boil. “Get back the stairs, _all_ of you, we have a huge mess to clean up,” Zexion snapped in warning. He glared at Kairi and Naminé and the auburn haired girl scoffed as she rolled her eyes. 

“Sure, sure Shadow Boy, don’t get your feathers in a ruffle.” She turned to Naminé and said in a sneering voice, “Reduced to being told off by _them_ , come on Nami, we do have a mess to clean.”  
The girls turned to the stairs and another rumble echoed throughout the house.  
Sora bit his lip as the Silhouettes snickered wickedly and all disappeared in plumes of black and grey smoke.

The brunette turned to Olette and whispered, urgency tainting his voice.   
“We need to get out the house, Olette we need to get to the fountain. _Now.”_  
Sora tugged on the girl’s arm. She relented and let herself be pulled from the house swiftly. Once they reached the outside, the front doorframe rattled dangerously. Olette didn’t see what did, it but Sora did.

Riku leant against the doorframe with his eyes pointedly on Olette. He didn’t make himself known.  
He just stood there.  
Olette yanked her arm from Sora’s hand and said in a shaking voice, “You _live_ with all of them in your house?”

Sora frowned. “They died over a hundred years ago, when this house was a Psychiatric Hospital. They can’t leave Olette. It is neither of our faults, just I ended up on one team, and Roxas is batting for the other,” he explained.

He tried to get his point across. Olette was just meddling far too much; she was already tangled up in this mess. She didn’t need to be completely ensnared. Sora looked back at the door to see that Riku had vanished. He pursed his lips together then his heart started to thunder when, from the house, a high-pitched scream rattled the entire foundation of the Mansion. 

What traitorous Silhouette disobeyed the promises Roxas had kept to Sora? What friend was he losing at that instant…   
Sora looked back at Olette and sat her on the ledge of the fountain. “Please stay here, just for one moment, please; one of my friends could be hurt.”  
Without waiting for a retort, Sora bolted towards the house and disappeared into the dimness, leaving Olette unattended, sitting on the fountain ledge.

*****

Sora ran up the stairs and called out hysterically, “Kairi? Nami? Anybody?”  
His loud yelling drew out the cranky violet haired Silhouette Zexion; he stalked out of Roxas’ room.   
“What are you doing coming up here yelling at the top of your lungs for boy?” he demanded in a harsh, unfriendly voice.  
Sora glared and pointing a finger to the Silhouette. “You attacked one of my friends, which one was it?” he accused. 

Zexion’s eyes flashed as he said in a chilly voice, “We haven’t attacked no one as of yet, your friends are still alive you heathen.”  
Sora was befuddled. He asked, more so to himself;   
“Then who shrieked?”

*****

Olette hummed beneath her breath and leant back on her hands. She heard the water trickling behind her. She twisted her body and stuck her hand into the cool water then swished it around still humming.

Suddenly the water went freezing cold. It stung her hand painfully. Letting out a cry of pain and shock, Olette whipped her hand out and held it to her chest gingerly. Then her eyes widened as the grass beside the fountain started to turn an icy blue. The air got frigid and, frozen to the spot, Olette couldn’t move a muscle when a ghostly figure manifested in front of her.

The ghost wasn’t one of the females she had seen and a foreboding sense told her that this particular silver haired ghost was not going to be friendly, to her at least.  
The way he scowled at her indicated his dislike. He folded his arms across his chest and said in a disdainful voice, “You did not have to involve yourself in our affairs, stupid girl.”

Olette gulped. “Sora said the same thing; he is worried for my safety,” she said in a slightly wavering voice.  
The ghost scoffed. “I’m not that worried about your safety, I wouldn’t really care if you died, at least it would get Sora’s mind off you.”

Olette was insulted, the ghost was a prick and she instantly hated him. She frowned. “I will help Sora the best I can, I wouldn’t be able to cope if I lost him.” She lifted her chin indignantly. “I may be able to help Sora and Roxas better than what you could.”  
The ghost raises an eyebrow. _“By dying?_ Roxas will be fine, but like I said before stay away from this house, away from Sora or else.”

“Or else what?” Olette challenged and the ghost’s face contorted with rage.  
“You’ll die.”  
Olette felt the blood drain away from her face. “How?”  
The ghost straightened, his silvery bangs falling in front of his face. “I’ll kill you. But then again, the Silhouettes love warm blood and fresh meat; I hear it’s a Demon delicacy.” He chuckled. “And Roxas doesn’t like anybody, so he wouldn’t care if his pets pulled you apart, limb-by-limb.”

Olette’s stomach began to clench but she spoke in a bold voice, confronting the ghost. “Stop trying to threaten me, it is not working.”  
She suddenly squeaked in fright when there was a gush of cold air and the ghost was millimeters away from her face, aqua eyes cold and menacing.   
“Oh, I think it is working fine,” he whispered, smirking.

“Riku!?”   
There was an exclamation from the front door and Olette looked up while Riku leisurely turned around. Sora jumped down the porch and raced to them, his face looking more and more uncertain as he neared Riku.  
“What are you doing?” he demanded. 

“Setting down the law.” Riku spoke casually but with a clear warning underlying his tone. He glared at Olette who instantly cringed. “I have more worrying issues to be worrying about.”  
Then he disappeared.

Sora went right to Olette who finally whispered, “He said that the Silhouettes will kill me, I thought they were Roxas’ friends!”  
Sora bit his lip.   
“I don’t know Olette,” he said. “I really don’t know, my brother only really has a rein over one of them, even then he still can’t fully control him.” He sighed. “You will have to watch out for Riku too, the ghost just then. I hate to say it, but I told you to stay out of this, Olette.”

Sora helped Olette up who looked to the front door and saw a dark figure quickly disappear. She shuddered.   
“Come on, I will have to introduce you to everybody now. Besides, we need the extra hands to help clean the house before Mum and Dad get home, frigging Roxas and three Silhouettes are missing, I’m really started to get worried,” he said softly. As they walked to the house, Olette couldn’t help but wonder what in the hell she had gotten herself into.

*****

“Xigbar! Where the hell are you?” Larxene stumbled blindly through the underground tunnels of Station Heights looking for her lost companion. Rubble lay around her as she trailed along, clutching her blackened, seeping arm to her body for support.  
Her glowing eyes darted nervously through the darkness looking for the danger. There was no way she was going to leave by herself, she needed to find Xigbar. 

The older Silhouette had pushed Larxene away when Xemnas had attacked; all she had seen were blinding purple projectiles being shot into the darkness.   
There was a cry of pain and instantly Larxene tried summoning her knives but all of them had been lost in the fight. She couldn’t summon them back.  
She had gotten hurt and in the fray, she had lost Xigbar, too.  
How in the hell could she lose an entire being?

Now her main fear was either running back into Xemnas or Saix hunting her down and ripping her to pieces.   
Her fear thundered throughout her body and her sensitive hearing started to pick up the distinct _‘drip drip’_ of water hitting concrete somewhere in the distance. She shifted to black mist and coasted down the dark tunnels relying on her sharp hearing to pick up any trace of Xigbar but she was only greeted by silence, which truly terrified her.  
The dripping sound got closer and closer and as the female Silhouette neared, what she has scented was not water.  
It had an acrid smell. Larxene shifted forms and instantly recognised the smell. It was blood.

She gasped, letting go of her arm as she stepped right in a deep puddle of foul smelling liquid. It was red mixed in with black; the red blood had that salty, coppery smell while the bitter taint was distinctly Silhouette.

“Xigbar!” Larxene hissed, treading through the pool of mixed blood. Her paranoia was hitching and electricity buzzed right through her hair, stimulating her senses further, making her more alert and aware. Her eyes adjusted and she nearly fell back against the wall when she saw two skinned bodies that were once humans hanging upside down from a large pipe on the roof of the tunnel. Blood dripped in a steady stream staining the concrete and beside the mutilated humans:  
“Xigbar!” Larxene breathed.

She ran to the older Silhouette who was also hung upside down. His cloak had been ripped to shreds and he was covering the left side of his face where his eye was gone and more scarred. His one glowing yellow eye opened.   
“Get out of here,” he said frantically, breathlessly.

Larxene tugged on the steel cables binding Xigbar to the roof with her good arm.   
“I am _not_ leaving you behind, we need everybody together,” she hissed.  
Larxene momentarily stopped when she saw a large shadow loom on the wall behind her in the very dim light.   
_“It was a trap,”_ said Xigbar weakly.  
Larxene tugged the steel cable then looked up quickly to see the cable looped around the pipe on the roof and stuck into the wall behind the wounded Silhouette.  
Something she could knock out and get out with Xigbar.

There was a heavy snarl and Larxene shrieked. She quickly spun around, knocking the threat with her good arm. She saw a veil of blue hair and instantly jumped back hissing when she saw the two feral, gleaming eyes that definitely belonged to Saix.  
The mongrel Silhouette roared in an animalistic way then jumped forward only to have Larxene prance away in the last second.

Larxene knew that she couldn’t dance out of the dog’s grip forever. Instead, she focused on the electric currents running inside her. If she could focus that power and direct it into her hands and fingers, she may be able to produce a charge. Like the build-up of static electricity.  
But Larxene needed this shock to be strong enough to distract Saix so she can get Xigbar and run. Saix neared her again with his claws outstretched. Larxene felt the power buzz to her hands. She threw them forward, one hand connected with Saix’s shoulder and the other with his face. The electrical energy reverberated around Larxene then zapped Saix. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he stumbled back, falling on the wire that Larxene had been hoping to break.

Saix sputtered, froth building up on the side of his mouth as he shuddered violently. His claws hit the cables, which instantly broke; Xigbar fell in a heap on the bloody concrete. Larxene quickly raced over and helped him up and she saw Saix rigidly lying there. His eyes never left her though. 

Her shock must have paralysed him. She didn’t wait around to see if it was temporary or not. She hoisted a motionless Xigbar up and she fled the tunnels, running back to the questionable safety of the Mansion.

*****

“What happens if something did happen to them?” Demyx exclaimed irritably, stomping down the hall and kicking some wooden planks away. “We are sitting here doing nothing! Xemnas could have all of them locked up or he could be torturing them-” The young Silhouettes eyes grew round as he spun around to face Zexion. “He could be torturing them, imagine all the pain they will be in and we are doing nothing. We are cleaning a _house_ while they could be DYING.”  
Demyx threw his hands up to his hair in exasperation, spraying the nearby Silhouettes with droplets of water.

“Shut up Demyx,” Vexen snapped. “When will you ever learn to shut your god damned mouth?” Demyx scowled menacingly.   
“Fighting will not get us anywhere, we need to stick together and act as a working unit. We cannot let bad thoughts plague our minds. Demyx just focus on the task at hand,” Zexion said.  
The Silhouettes grumbled at each other when Sora came down the Spirit side of the house. “Do you guys ever stop fighting? Besides he is right,” Sora said, pointing at Zexion, who narrowed his eyes dangerously. 

“I do have a name and what makes you think you are in charge of us?” he snapped.  
His ice blue eyes were steely and full of loathe towards Sora who stepped back who replied defiantly. 

“I was agreeing with you!” He frowned and still eyeing him wearily, Zexion summoned his large spell book, his Lexicon, and levitated all the large pieces of the roof back to where they belonged.  
Demyx walked down to the end of the hall and grinned despite the dire situations they were in. He called out to all the congregated Silhouettes, humans and Spirits, “Look out, here comes the cleanout.”

“Demyx!” snapped Zexion, “Don’t you da-”  
The indigo haired Silhouette was instantly ignored and Sora stumbled back right into Olette who cried, “What’s happening?”  
Demyx pulled out his Sitar and strummed some heavy chords. Water bubbled up beside the young Silhouette. It welled to an incredible size. Kairi appeared next to Sora looking apologetic.

“Too bad you can’t levitate Sora, sorry.”  
Sora looked up and saw his Spirit friends hovering. Just then the water bubbles beside Demyx popped. Water roared down the hall taking debris, dust and numerous Silhouettes and humans down the stairs.

The water rushed down the stairs and cascaded down the front porch and into the grass. Leaving everything clean but wet. Demyx looked rather pleased with himself, but there were many around him that weren’t.  
Sora helped up Olette who was gasping and trying not to laugh. Zexion got up and held his sodden Lexicon, looking disgusted and horrified at the same time. Marluxia pulled off his cloak and Luxord threw down a clumped up set of cards.  
“You dolt, you just ruined everything!” he fumed.

Demyx’s smile faltered as Zexion said in a deathly voice, “Get your weapon water mage and get _every drop of water out of this house.”_ He held a very clear threat, to which Demyx looked like he was about to protest against but then thought back against it. He dragged the offending weapon across the wood mumbling about trying to help.

“That’s an idiot for you,” Sora gasped to Olette. He shook his unruly spikes of water, spraying it all over the girl who protested.   
“Well I don’t see that every day,” she said.  
Sora ignored a glare that was shot by Demyx; he held his soaking clothes away from his body.

When the front door suddenly burst open, there was a shriek and a rumbling up the stairs. Everybody tensed, then large plumes of smoke appeared and instantly two figures fell onto the floor. As the mist cleared, Larxene was slumped over Xigbar and the Silhouettes all darted forward.

“Larxene! Xigbar! What the hell happened?” Zexion demanded falling beside them.   
“We followed Xemnas, Xigbar wanted to be all macho but he disappeared,” Larxene stuttered. “H-He hurt us and Xigbar saved me, I found him hanging up in Station Heights with skinned humans, Saix attacked us but I managed to get away with Xigbar.” Tears fell down Larxene’s face as she stared down at a motionless Xigbar. “He hasn’t moved or spoken since, what’s the matter with him?”

Zexion looked at Vexen who knelt beside Xigbar and examined the multitudes of blood on both him and Larxene. There was a gash on Xigbar’s wrist and when Vexen squeezed it, no blood came out. Zexion looked to Larxene who looked severely frightened.   
“He has been blooded,” the icy Silhouette said.

Larxene withheld a gasp. “He was hanging upside down when I found him and there was blood all over the ground,” she whispered. Vexen nodded.   
“Xemnas must have slashed him open and taken his blood to regain some lost power, being a Silhouette would help better than what human blood is.”  
The air was broken when Demyx dropped his Sitar with a loud clatter and raced over, flinging his arms over Xigbar’s limp form.

“Don’t die on me Xiggy, if you see a light don’t go in it, you’ll die!”  
Zexion knocked him roughly aside with his elbow and said in a growl, “He won’t die you idiot, we are dark immortals, we can’t die.” Demyx looked to Zexion then back to Xigbar with his bottom lip sticking out and his oceanic eyes round and wide.   
Xigbar stirred then, and Larxene sighed in relief. The Silhouettes visibly relaxed a little. Two Silhouettes had returned home.

Sora watched the congregation silently.  
“Roxas is still gone,” Olette pointed out. He nodded.   
“He will be with Axel. It just keeps getting worse doesn’t it?”   
“What could get worse?” Olette added clinging to Sora’s arm.

Then Kairi appeared again, looking grim. Outside the sound of car doors were heard.  
“It has just gotten worse,” the Spirit chuckled wryly.  
“Shit!” Sora cursed. He was supposed to be at school and now his parents were home! And the house was still a mess!  
What were they going to do now?


	20. Pain

The key jingled in the lock and Sora looked to Olette in panic.   
She mouthed his fears, “Your parents are home what do we do?” Her green eyes were wide with fright and Sora grabbed her arm, debating whether to go into his bedroom; if Riku was in there trouble would definitely ensue.  
Riku hated Olette.

Luckily, the Silhouette Zexion was on the ball and he barked to the large Silhouette with erratic black dreads.   
“Go down and at least hold the handle shut for a few minutes.” The large one nodded and disappeared and Demyx drew all the water in the halls and stairwell back to himself.   
It wasn’t clean water and the minute he absorbed it, his face went an ashen colour and he groaned, “Oh I don’t feel so well.”

The key rattled again and Sora could hear his father’s voice say roughly, “The door won’t open, the key is stuck.”  
Then Aerith’s voice piqued up. “You’re not turning it the right way, you’re doing it wrong.”   
“I know how to open a door, damn Woman!” Cloud bit back.   
“Don’t use that language on me,” Aerith barked. “There’s a thousand names I can call you Cloud, now look at us! Locked outside because you can’t open the front door.”

In the hall, the Silhouettes vanished and Kairi leant over to Sora and gestured to his bedroom door. “Riku isn’t there Sora, get in there and when I give you a signal I want you and ‘girly’ here to climb out your window, the roof runs along and you will be able to climb down the tree, hide until it’s safe to come back to the house.”  
Sora looked alarmed and Kairi gave him a reassuring look, “It will be fine, trust me Sora.” 

The auburn haired ghost pushed the pair into the bedroom and shut it just as the front door banged open and Aerith’s huffed and annoyed voice came drifting through.  
“Maybe we do have our disadvantages living in an old house, because I can’t rely on my husband to do anything right!”  
There was a clatter in the kitchen as bags, keys were thrown onto the bench tops and Aerith’s voice came out in a puzzled voice. “Whose schoolbag is this?”   
In the room eavesdropping through an open door, Olette slapped her hand over her mouth and Sora felt dread pool in his stomach.  
“I don’t know!” Cloud’s indignant voice came out. “I don’t wear a girl’s schoolbag, it’s probably Roxas’.” 

“Roxas doesn’t have a girl’s schoolbag Cloud!” Aerith snapped. “Don’t say things like that about our son you ignorant, selfish, indecent-” she paused for a second before carrying on. “A prick, that’s what you area selfish prick who thinks of nobody but yourself.”

“Says know-it-all here!” Cloud growled. “Do I make you that angry that I make you swear Aerith? Just tell me what I do wrong, other than working to keep this family in the lifestyle they like!”   
“Shut up, Cloud.”  
“Don’t have a comeback Aerith. Tell me what I do wrong?”   
“I said shut up, Cloud!”

Sora shut the door quickly when there were footsteps coming up the stairs. He ushered Olette into the bathroom. His parents’ voices stopped short, right at his door.   
“I tell you what Cloud, for years I watched Roxas come home from that dreadful school. He was bulliedhe was locked in the photography darkroom for heaven’s sake. How many times did he come home and have to go to the hospital? Who looked after him? Me! It was me!” Aerith was definitely growing angry. “You did nothing to help out your son, neither of them. I got us out of Hollow Bastion hoping to come together as a family here; we are more divided than ever! You don’t even act like a Father and now that I have this one, it’s just going to be a complete disaster for you isn’t it.”

“You’ve got it wrong Aerith,” Cloud barked. “How would any father react when his son comes home and says he’s gay? I find it incredibly awkward to be around the kid, no wonder he was bullied. At least with Sora I could at least hold a conversation with him when he wasn’t going out partying every night and parading with girls on each arm.”  
Sora frowned. Is that what his parents really thought of him? He shied away when he felt Olette’s eyes gaze upon him.   
“They’re my boys and I love them more than anything, I don’t know why it’s so hard for you Cloud.”

Sora leant back against the bathroom wall, knocking it. The other side of the wall shuddered and a picture on the opposite side quivered then fell from the flimsy hook. It fell to the ground with a bang and Aerith’s alarmed voice rang out, “What was that?”  
Sora had yanked Olette behind the bathroom door when Naminé appeared. She looked at them wide eyed then scampered to the bathroom window, which was totally jammed shut when Sora tried to open it. It silently flew open with ease and she gestured to them hurriedly when Sora’s bedroom door opened. Aerith’s pink heels clomped over the floorboards and she stopped at the picture. 

“It fell from the wall,” she said. She tried to put it back up but to no avail. Cloud leant against the doorframe.   
“Had enough of yelling yet?” Cloud asked pointedly. Aerith sighed.   
“I just wanted to get away from fighting,” she admitted. She set the frame down and began to explore Sora’s bedroom. “Brr it’s chilly in here,” she stated. “Poor Sora, he must have no heating… But Roxas’ room is like a sauna…” 

She continued to wander about his room. “Yuck, this room is a horrible colour; it reminds me of a hospital room. They could have painted it… I can almost imagine smelling the chemicals and medicines they used on the poor people here.”

Meanwhile, while his mother ranted Sora pushed Olette out of the small window. She landed on the roof outside and Sora followed behind, trying to be silent. Naminé gave him a leg up trying to muffle the sound. Then she realised that Aerith’s thoughts had shifted and she was coming for the bathroom.  
She pushed Sora out roughly then vanished just as the mothers heels clicked onto the white tiles.  
Outside, Sora and Olette hid under the window. Naminé didn’t have time to shut it.

“He leaves everything open,” Aerith, protested heading for the window. “People could easily climb onto the roof and break in. Sometimes he doesn’t think about anything else.” Aerith looked out the window and onto the forest beyond and said, “He does have a nice view out here.”

Aerith was so close that Sora could smell her perfume.  
If she looked down…  
“Done sightseeing?” Cloud’s voice broke in and Aerith’s head went back in, slamming the window shut. Sora breathed out in relief and Olette slumped against him resting her head against his shoulder. Their nerves were frayed.   
“That was close,” she whispered softly. Sora deflated.   
“I don’t want go through that ever _again.”_

They crawled over the roof tiles to the large tree and climbed down to the grass below. Once out of sight they walked normally to the trees and Olette said, “Now what do we do?”  
Sora had no idea.

*****

Vincent’s eyes flashed viciously when he gestured to the once again fluorescent green river.   
“Listen mundane, when the river is _green_ it means that a Seeker, like Axel or myself, can go and search for souls, but we can only seek them out. Once we find them there’s nothing we can do.” He folded his arms. “That’s when you come along. When the river is _blue_ you can reap the souls the Seekers have found, it can be a human soul, or Silhouette or even powerful, ancient magic. _You_ choose who gets to live or who dies, but you need a Seeker like us, just as much as a Seeker needs a Reaper like yourself.”

Roxas did not like Vincent; he scared the living daylights out of him. He wasn’t mean, he just seemed dangerous and if you pissed him off, he would simply walk over and pull your head from your shoulders without force.   
That’s how Roxas saw him, anyway.

Axel sat beside the river watching the two anxiously; he sincerely hoped that Vincent would turn on Roxas. His annoyance was evident and Roxas seemed to get more and more concerned by his presence by the second. Here they were, in the most magical place in all of existence and a bloke that thought he was better than everybody else was pushing them around! Axel frowned.   
Vincent wasn’t all that bad but him just being here in between Axel and his happy place severely pissed him off.

Roxas watched Vincent wearily and the Master Silhouette glanced at the river. He walked over and with his gauntlet hand; he reached into the water and pulled out a misty, circular globe. “Here,” he said in his monotonous voice. “A car crash just happened in Twilight Town, this person is about to die.”

Roxas wandered over and Vincent said, “Put your hand on the sphere.”   
The blonde eyed the misty circle in apprehension before he placed his hand on it. He jumped violently when he suddenly found himself at the crash site.   
He saw everything, it was a woman.

Images flashed in his mind, she was married and had three kids whom she adored. She was a loving, kind person who went out of her way to help anybody.  
Roxas was hit with a thought, his Mother was like that and his heart bled for this poor woman. She didn’t need to die.

Roxas saw a flash of white and he found himself back in the blue-lit cave. He took his hand off and Vincent dropped the globe in the water. It rose back up and was coloured now, one-half red and the other half blue.  
“Blue means they live, red means they die,” Vincent explained. “You know when their time is up, but if they have more to live for, grant them that second chance.”  
Roxas instantly knew that this dying woman had more to live for, most definitely. He swept his hand through the blue half, the sphere started to glow gold, and it disappeared. 

Vincent nodded approvingly. “She would have deserved that Roxas, well done.”  
His eyes flashed at his next statement, “You have to follow your instincts Roxas, if you choose incorrectly in who lives or dies the river still needs a soul. So if you saved a person who was supposed to die, an innocent soul near them will perish instead of them. Then you will have a guilty conscience because somebody who wasn’t supposed to die did because of your ignorance.”

Playing God didn’t sound so fun after that statement and Roxas felt a tingle down his spine before sending an unsure glance to Axel.  
Vincent nodded, “Axel plays a part in it as well, he chooses the Souls. You can’t pick them out, only he can.” Axel rose from his rock as Roxas asked another question.   
“What if I killed somebody because I think they should die, what will happen then?”

Vincent turned around, “Bad people you mean?” He didn’t even see Roxas nod.  
The blonde thought about murderers and rapists, people who deserved to die.

“There will always be one to replace him or her, no matter how many bad people you reap, there will always be another. It is a battle that you will not be able to win.”  
With that, Vincent clawed the air in front of him.  
A wispy veil parted away and Roxas caught sight of the real world. Vincent walked through the gap in dimensions and it sealed shut, leaving Roxas and Axel completely alone in a vivid blue cave.

“It’s a lot to take in,” Roxas muttered, watching the spot where Vincent had been. “I never knew I could wield such power, but” he looked to Axel. “Why would I have to kill people who are innocent? I couldn’t do that, what if they had a family or a whole life to live?”

Axel’s face was sorrowful, then he walked up to Roxas and bent down so he could whisper in his ear.   
“Humans need their Guardian Angels, Roxas. Every pure soul you reap will become heavenly and that’s where you will get your Angels, the world needs hope don’t they?”  
Axel had a point. Roxas thought about what the Silhouette had said and decided that the Guardian Angel thing was a beautiful thing to say about pure souls. He smiled and Axel looked around the cave rather wearily. 

“I really don’t like being in here,” he said. He grabbed Roxas’ hand. “Come on. I will take you to a nice place where I like to go.” Gold swept around them and when the scenery settled down Roxas found himself standing on the edge of a clock tower. Axel sat him down and said waving his hand, _“Sunset.”_

The sun went a dark gold as the sun hit the horizon and the Silhouette answered Roxas’ unasked question. “This is Twilight Town, we are on the clock tower in Station Heights, it’s one of my favourite places to go and watch the best sunset anywhere.” 

He gazed out over the alternate town and Roxas admired the view. Twilight Town wasn’t a very big town and from up above it was a beautiful sight to see. The whole town seemed to bathe in angelic golden light. Roxas looked to Axel and asked, “Why don’t we go do this in the real world?” Axel shrugged. 

“Sounds good, but then you can’t have these.” He swiveled his golden hands, produced two blue ice creams, and handed one to Roxas. “It’s a flavour I invented myself, taste it and see if you like it,” he boasted.

Roxas agreed and bit into the ice cream, it was pure sweetness then slightly salty. It was an exotic flavour and the blonde instantly fell in love with it. He looked at Axel sucking on the ice cream and mumbled, “What do you call it Axel?”  
The Silhouette chuckled, “Sea-Salt Ice-cream. You like it?”

Roxas nodded his head vigorously then took the ice cream out of his mouth and chuckled. “You aren’t a tough, evil Silhouette are you Axel? You put on this great big façade that you are heartless, pure evil even, and you would kill anybody who got in your path…” Axel swallowed a chunk of his ice cream. 

“I am like that when I have to be and before you came I was literally heartless. I couldn’t enjoy this place as much as I can now. But here I don’t think of myself of a Demon, I can be myself.” He seemed pleased with his answer before continuing in a clipped voice. “But if anything happens, I am still a monster Roxas. A bloodthirsty beast always will be. That’s why I prefer to be here because I am away from the temptations; I am a predator lying in wait for its prey. Most the time I can’t help myself.”

Roxas nodded, looking at his ice cream. Axel lived in torment every day. He was fighting a beast that he was forced to become because of Roxas himself, bound by a promise that he had kept to protect the Family.   
Axel wasn’t an angel and Roxas knew that he couldn’t trust Axel to do the right thing; he was a savage beast that couldn’t be tamed. But he was trying to keep Roxas happy and for that alone Roxas was proud of him. He smiled and Axel glanced at him.   
“What are you thinking about Roxas?” he asked in a some-what curious voice.   
The blonde looked at him and admitted, “Just thinking how proud I am of you controlling yourself so you won’t hurt my family or the others. It would be hard, but you manage.”  
The red head smiled at the praise and he said in a soft voice, “I’m glad to hear that my efforts are appreciated.”

The sun sank lower in the sky. Human and Silhouette sat up on the clock tower eating ice cream in content silence. Axel demolished his ice cream and threw the stick off the edge.   
Roxas leant over, watched and saw the stick simply disappear in a wisp of golden smoke.   
Axel then let out a large yawn then slumped back over the ledge and rested his head on his arms staring at the sky. He was silent and Roxas quirked his mouth and continued to eat his ice cream. The silence was nice and comfortable.

“You know what?” Axel finally said and Roxas mumbled an inaudible response.   
“I sort of enjoy this, the sun setting over Twilight Town, I don’t know how to explain it, it leaves a peaceful emotion in my chest,” he said thoughtfully. Roxas chuckled.   
_“Content’s_ the word Axel. I like it here as well. Do you think it will be like this back in the real world?”

The Silhouette sat up with his green eyes calculating then he simply shrugged giving Roxas a toothy grin. “Don’t know. Not many places can beat this place though.” The blonde instantly agreed with the Silhouette and Axel added casually, leaning back on his hands, “Do you know what else I enjoy even better than this, though?” He gave Roxas an intense leer and the blonde drew his cerulean eyes to the smouldering emerald eyes that belonged to Axel. 

“What could you like better than this place?”   
The red head laughed at his obliviousness and leant forward to whisper in Roxas’ ear. _“Kissing you Roxas.”_ His hot breath made a tingle shoot right down the smaller blonde’s spine. A small hard knot coiled in his stomach and he gave the demon a wide stare.  
Axel chuckled mischievously, his eyes going a darker shade of green. He drew back slightly and Roxas immediately missed the warmth that the Silhouette radiated. He let his half-eaten ice-cream droop. Axel smirked.   
“Interested in something else Roxas?”

Roxas felt the heat crawling up his neck and knew that his ears would be turning an intense shade of pink. He opened his mouth to say something but only a sputter of shock tumbled out.  
Damn Axel, why did he do to this him? He made Roxas feel small and idiotic. His stomach was a tumble of fluttery feelings and all he could do was slowly go red.  
Axel chuckled at the blonde’s reaction, his face went a steady shade of beet red and his eyes darted everywhere except the Silhouette himself. Finally, Roxas splutter the words “Don’t do that Axel!”  
Axel held out his hands and protested, a smirk building on his face. “Tell me what I am doing Roxas? I’m confused.”   
Roxas knew he was doing this on purpose. Axel bloody well knew what he was doing but he had to make Roxas more embarrassed by lingering on the issue.   
Roxas finally dropped the dripping ice cream from the building and lunged at Axel. The two tumbled from the clock tower ledge and onto the small, uncomfortable walkway.  
Not that it mattered.

Roxas’ mouth smashed down on Axel’s in an almost violent way. Axel was so warm and Roxas found himself craving it, badly. He was on top of the demon and Roxas clutched the fabric of Axel’s velvety cloak and pulled his chest towards him. He felt a thrill race in his chest when Axel growled savagely and his hands snaked up and clutched the blonde to him. Roxas felt sharp canines pierce his lip and he could taste the blood trickling down his chin.

Axel could taste it as well and his mouth moved fervently against his own. His teeth bit down on Roxas’ bottom lip. More blood cascaded out and the pain momentarily fazed Roxas.  
Axel tasted Roxas’ blood and was consumed by bloodlust. It drove him over the edge and the darkness inside him yowled at him to take Roxas. Claim him, ravage him. He bit into Roxas’ bottom lip and noticed the change in his blonde instantly. The pain shocked him but Axel wouldn’t allow him to escape. 

Especially when the blonde had literally thrown himself at him.  
Roxas was more aware of the blood falling between them but the pain was masked when Axel gripped him around the waist. His shirt had hiked up and Axel’s large white hands gripped him by his flesh. Heat sparked through him and it made his legs tingle with the feeling.

Axel finally pulled away, only slightly and leant his forehead against Roxas’. His eyes were wild and he gasped in a ragged voice, “Here isn’t the place.”  
Roxas was gasping for the need for air, he nodded and Axel stared at him with darkening eyes.   
The situation had quickly gone out of Roxas’ hands.

Axel got up with that feral glint in his eyes and the scenery around them vanished. Grass grew out of the bricks and concrete and the sky went dark blue. The sun went silver and the wind whipped around the human and the Silhouette.  
Roxas tentatively touched his chin and found the whole front of his shirt splattered in blood. But that seemed to drive Axel even wilder, his hands shot out and he tangled his fingers in the golden locks and yanked Roxas face back towards his.  
Roxas managed a small gasp before he found his hands curling around Axel’s crimson locks. He pulled on them savagely and Axel growled into his mouth gnashing his teeth together as his mouth warred with Roxas’.

Axel was in complete control now and he threw Roxas back into the soft green grass. His tongue traced along the seam of Roxas’ lips and he opened to have his mouth assaulted by Axel’s tongue. All he tasted was blood but that’s what Axel enjoyed. Axel gripped Roxas tighter around the tops of his arms knowing that he would leave marks.   
Roxas was totally helpless, Axel dominated him but inside that is what Roxas wanted. His head began to spin from the lack of air and sensing this Axel pulled away slightly, his lips coated in cherry red blood.

“You drive me mad,” he whispered hoarsely and Roxas felt his ravaged scar on his shoulder begin to throb. His heart thundered in his chest and Axel rasped, “You do that Roxas, everything you feel, _I feel.”_

A bead of bright red blood seeped from a puncture mark from Roxas' lip and rolled down his chin. Axel’s hot breath made him shake involuntarily and Axel caught the blood on his finger then put it in his mouth. He licked his luscious lips of the blood and said, “You don’t know how good you taste, you do this to me.”  
Axel seemed almost animalistic and Roxas had to smirk slightly at the power he could exert over the Silhouette. 

He was about to say something but inside his head his conscious screamed at him. _“What were you thinking, he is a monster that can’t control himself, your family could be in trouble and you were about to-”_   
It didn’t finish and Roxas pulled away from Axel and realised what he had just about embarked on. What had gotten into him? He wasn’t that sort of person. He gazed back to Axel who instantly whined. 

“Don’t pull back on me Roxy; we were just getting to the good part.”   
His eyes were sparking with menace and Roxas knew that he could be in a dangerous situation if he angered the Silhouette any more. He drew his swollen lip into his mouth and tasted the blood still on it and it elicited a growl from a feral Axel.   
“A-Axel,” Roxas whispered uncertainly. “W-we can’t do this right now.”  
Axel’s eyes were fierce. “Why not, you started this all Roxas, now you tell me that you can’t do this?” he growled, his eyes were becoming darker and losing their green hue.   
All Roxas could think was _“Fuck, what have I done?”_

“I know,” he said trying to keep his voice smooth. “But we are running out of time and we need to return before anything happens.”  
Axel’s eyes were filling with dark liquid and he huffed, _“We have all the time in the world Roxas.”_

Veins ran down the demon’s face and he got to his feet, he instantly towered over Roxas. The blonde was instantly intimidated. He scrambled to his own wiping the blood away from his mouth and smearing it over his cheek.  
Axel watched him intently and took a step forward. The Axel he was terrified of replaced the Axel that Roxas had been falling for. The Silhouette side. It was his entire fault.   
Damn his conscience.

Axel stopped when Roxas was back up against the trunk of a large tree; his gaze wandered upwards and saw the star riddled sky instantly change. Planets and comets decorated the sky now. 

“What do I have to do Roxas?” Axel hissed and the blonde looked down to his feet. His reply was inaudible. There was a growl from Axel and Roxas yelped in fear.   
“I want you to love me, Axel,” he finally said meekly. A large tear developed in his eye and it rolled down his cheek, “I want you to be the one there when I need you. I want you t-to hold me when I cry j-just-” Roxas searched his mind frantically before whispering, “Just be mine for now, just be the Axel that I’m falling in-” 

He shut his mouth. Sealing his lips before he could finish his sentence.   
Axel stopped in his rampage and he snarled. “What! Can’t you tell me Roxas? You can’t even look me in the eye, you tell me to stay away from you.” The hurt was rising now and Roxas could feel it bubbling in life and intensity in his chest.   
Was he feeling Axel’s emotions or were they his own?  
“I’m sorry Axel,” Roxas whispered. 

“Sorry for leading me on Roxas? I thought I was getting through to you but I just got my hopes up. I _knew_ I shouldn’t have fallen for you, you would just end up hurting me.”  
Roxas looked up to see Axel turn around and he stepped forward helplessly and said, “No Axel, I didn’t mean it like”

“No,” Axel barked. “Piss off Roxas, go back to your family, they are more important than I will ever be.”  
“Axel-” Roxas tried again but Axel spun around, his eyes livid and full of hurt. “Fuck off Roxas, I don’t want to see you in here again, this is my place, my HAPPY place and you’re ruining it.”  
Roxas cringed back throwing his arms around his chest and he whispered, “How do I get out then?” he whispered.   
Axel growled and he spun around, stood over Roxas and opened a door to the real world.   
“I don’t care where you end up out there, just leave me alone.”  
With that, he pushed Roxas out and closed the veil behind him.

*****

Roxas stumbled into dense, green foliage and instantly uncurled his arms from around himself and looked around at his surroundings. He was in the forest by his house, he was sure of it. Axel wouldn’t have sent him too far away from home.  
Thinking of the enraged Silhouette made Roxas’ eyes tear up. Sniffling them away Roxas just walked and hoped it was in the direction he wanted it to go. 

*****

Sora glanced at Olette’s wristwatch and whispered, “We will wait a couple more minutes then we can walk through the front door.” He gazed behind him. “I hope Roxas will have the brains to turn up soon or the parents will get suspicious.” Olette peeked through the trees to the house.   
“Your mother is out in the garden, come look at this,” she murmured.  
Sora leant over Olette and suppressed a sigh when he saw the pink haired Silhouette, Marluxia if he remembered correctly. Kneeling beside his mother and digging in the garden as well. He groaned.   
“That asshole has some fetish for my Mum; he hasn’t left her alone ever since we moved here.”  
Olette peered closer and she said in breathless wonder, “Come over this way Sora and look at her, I think your mum knows that he is there.”   
Curious and shocked at the same time, Sora obeyed and peered closer to his mother. Olette was right; Aerith was speaking not to herself! Marluxia seemed to be speaking back and Sora felt dread fill him, how many others would she be aware of?

A crack in the woods behind the pair made them spin around and Sora’s doubt was consumed by feelings of relief. Roxas stomped from a small path and looked at his brother briefly before scowling and marching forward.  
“Roxas!” Sora exclaimed happily, running to his angry little brother and swooping him in a hug. “I’m so glad to see you, I was worried sick and when half your friends turned up mauled. I thought the worst.” He looked up them down at a wide-eyed Roxas. “Where’s Axel?” 

Roxas instantly struggled and he hit the grass. “You don’t need to know what happened to Axel, it was my fault… all my fault...,” he muttered to himself.  
His blue eyes were round and glassy. Roxas ran towards the house. Sora and Olette followed. They ignored the exclamations from Aerith and Marluxia got up and followed the trio inside and up the stairs.

Roxas ran down the hall and Olette called out.   
“Roxas, what is the matter?” She was ignored and an exuberant, relieved Demyx stopped Roxas before he could reach his bedroom.  
“Roxas!” he cooed flinging the blonde off his feet and swinging him around. “Where were you, we were all so worried about you and Axel, we thought something went”  
Demyx frowned his oceanic eyes narrowing and he sat Roxas down looking around. “Where is Axel, he is always with you Roxas?”

Zexion appeared next to Demyx just as Sora and Olette halted behind them. Marluxia came closer and other Silhouettes poked their heads out at the mention of Axel and Roxas.  
“What happened?” Zexion asked and Roxas stood there glancing at the concerned Silhouettes surrounding him.   
“Did something happen to Axel?” Demyx breathed worriedly.   
“Well he can’t be dead,” Larxene retorted. “Cause squirt here is still alive.” 

Roxas kept in a silent sob but that didn’t stop the tears. This horrified Sora and the others.   
“It was me,” Roxas said weakly. “He said I hurt him, he got mad at me and he kicked me out of the ‘In Between’ he doesn’t want to see me anymore.” Roxas let out a strangled sob and he made a beeline to his door and slammed the door shut.  
Demyx ran for the door and misted into it. Sora heard Demyx said comforting words.  
“It’s ok Roxas, maybe Axel just got a little upset. You know how he is, just give him a day or two and this will blow over and he will be back by your side in no time.”  
Outside in the hall Zexion sighed. 

“Axel let him go, just like that?” Larxene said with her eyes wide. The smaller Silhouette looked to her, “It isn’t like that; Axel wouldn’t leave Roxas unless his feelings were hurt, Axel is a hot head and we all know that.”  
Sora gnawed on his lip, staring at his brother’s door and Olette whispered, “What do you think happened between Roxas and this ‘Axel’? Will he be ok?” Sora shrugged, he hadn’t seen Roxas so cut up about a situation before. 

Unlike how the Silhouettes described Axel, Roxas wouldn’t let this go easily. He would brood and mull over it for days and weeks.   
And sometimes he would just never let it go.


	21. Bloodbath

It had been a week

A full week and there had been no sign of Axel ever since he had kicked Roxas out of the ‘In Between.’

Twilight Town had been plagued with murders and disappearances, plunging the small, subdued town into complete turmoil. All the leads that the police had always went cold and now everybody was living in fear. Sora and Roxas Strife were living in terror.

Roxas had withdrawn from his family and his mental health started to deteriorate and worry both his mother and father. He had become a shell of a boy and this concerned Sora, Roxas had gone downhill so fast and it was because of that damned Silhouette.

Sora was officially going out with Olette and it had given her the popularity she had wished for so much. Now that she had Sora, it gave her even more reason to stay over the Strife Mansion and hang out with the Supernatural beings within the house.

After the news that Sora was going out with Olette, the Spirits withdrew and kept away as much as possible. Here and there, Sora would see a scowling form of Riku and he would quickly hide, but his feelings of fear would be replaced by something more, remorse perhaps?

The only one that Sora saw nowadays was Naminé. The girl made an effort to be nice to Olette, but she couldn’t hold a conversation and often fled the scene. The Silhouettes were ten times nastier. They would throw insults to the ‘Girly’ then disappear; they avoided Sora and Olette like the plague.

Aerith was a healthy eight weeks pregnant and she had warmed to the idea that she was going to have another addition to the Strife family. She was excited to find out the gender of the baby and was already beginning to nest. The only one that seemed too happy for her was Marluxia. Aerith was oblivious to the pain that this pregnancy was causing her two sons.

Given his alone time, especially when Demyx and Zexion left him in the bedroom, Roxas was able to mull and distinguish his feelings from the others.   
He couldn’t believe how much it actually hurt him at the fact that Axel had dropped him so quickly and easily. He hadn’t realized that he had been so attached to that damned Silhouette; he was able to comprehend what he was actually feeling for the Pyro. 

It had gone beyond the fact of mutual friendship in those fast few days.  
It had progressed so quickly and Roxas had found himself hopeless to the fact that he might actually _like_ the red head more than what he had originally intended.

He missed Axel, missed him terribly.  
Roxas was afraid of the feelings that burst in his chest when he thought of him and he couldn’t decipher what it was supposed to mean. Now that Axel was gone, he was void. Empty on the inside and nothing could fill it.

*****

Eight days after the disappearance of Axel, Roxas lie under his quilts on the following Saturday. The light filtered through the curtains and the blonde cast a dull look to his illuminating alarm clock, which read 9:01. He sighed, flung his arms over his face and stared into the nothingness. He didn’t want to get up. It was going to be another horrible day that he would have suffered through and he would have to relive the guilt of hurting Axel again.

As he was staring into the black void of nothingness he didn’t sense a spiky, sandy blonde head appear on the side of the bed and the blonde was terribly startled when Demyx announced in his loud cheerful voice, “Rise and shine Sunshine, Come on Roxas you have to stop sulking and get up out of that bed.”  
Roxas flung his arms away angrily and with focusing eyes, he saw the time on his alarm clock.

It was now 9:02  
Grumbling angrily, Roxas groped for his covers and ripped them over his head. The force ripped the quilt out from the ends of the bed and his feet poked out of the bottom. Darkness fell over him and Roxas heard Demyx say in a somewhat serious voice, “Oh Roxas, you sook you have to stop doing this, your family is getting worried. You know how Axel is; he will come back after he gets over his little spat.”

Roxas grumbled angrily in reply, “It’s been _eight days_ Demyx, he hates me.” His chest recoiled with hurt, Demyx huffed from outside of the covers and he shuffled over the floorboards.  
Then suddenly Roxas yelped out in surprise when cool hands enveloped his feet and he was tickled. The incredible urge to laugh filled Roxas’ chest and he cried out again and drew his legs up so fast that he smashed his knees against his jaw. His teeth clacked together painfully, his blankets wrenched off and Demyx jumped away laughing his eyes shining with delight and amusement.

Roxas rolled out of bed groaning in pain and Demyx jumped back to him and announced happily, “Do you know what Roxas, _guess what.”_  
He squatted down beside the blonde who had fallen onto the floor and said, “Sora and Olette are going to the pool today, I heard them talking about it, how about we go?”

Roxas sat up, moved his aching jaw around, grimaced at the pain and said in a huffy voice, “We Dem? I don’t like the pool.” Demyx stood up and pouted, “You need to get out of this accursed house, and Sora was going to ask you to come anyway.”  
He helped Roxas up and danced around again, “Can I come? Pleaaseee?”

Roxas sighed and he glared at Demyx and said, “Fine if you want to come go ask Sora.”

Demyx hesitated and his face fell, he didn’t like Sora all that much and he didn’t like Olette either. He was nasty because the others were nasty; the Silhouette just couldn’t live his own life and would be the first immortal to die in the whole history of immortality.

Demyx got up, dragged his heels and misted through the wall.  
Roxas watched the shadows from underneath the door and saw Demyx standing there. He wouldn’t move and Roxas knew that Demyx would lie to get his way and go to the pool.

All Demyx seemed to forget was another crucial person in this... Zexion.  
The Schemer wouldn’t go to the pool for the whole second life of him. He would rather stay in the house and this… ultimately left Demyx a very bored Silhouette.   
Demyx would try anything.

Roxas wasn’t surprised when the shadows disappeared and Demyx reappeared from the door and bounced back over as Roxas got to his feet. “Sora said yes!” Demyx exclaimed and Roxas said irritably, “How would I know if you are telling the truth Demyx?” 

Demyx’s bright smile faltered a little but he kept his composure and said, “I asked him.”  
“Really?” Roxas challenged, “You never left the fucking door Demyx, Sora isn’t even here, he left with Mum about half an hour ago, I heard them leave.”

Demyx faltered, his smile wavering dramatically before he threw himself to the bedside and flinging his arms over Roxas’ lap. “I just wanna come Roxas; I really wanna go to the pool.”

Roxas sighed and Demyx announced, “I take that as a yes, _thanks Roxas!”_ he spun around and Roxas heard the car outside. He heard the voice of his brother and his Mother and wasn’t all too surprised when he heard Olette as well. The keys jingled in the front door and Demyx raced around the room and said, “You are coming aren’t you Roxas?”

Roxas ran his fingers through his tousled blonde spikes and shrugged. He stomped to the door, Demyx meant well and he wanted Roxas to feel better.   
However, the young Silhouette was annoying  
He could piss Roxas off and the blonde found himself wishing that Axel would come back and kick Demyx’s ass from his bedroom balcony.

He wrenched open his door and was startled back when he saw Sora and Olette jump back at his sudden appearance in the hall. Before Roxas could say anything Demyx jumped out and announced to Sora in a boasting voice, “I eavesdropped on your conversation about going to the pool, I’m coming and there is nothing you can do about it.”

He pulled a face at Sora and danced around, Sora looked to Roxas enquiringly, and Roxas could only shrug his shoulders.

The brunette shook his head and said in a matter-of-fact voice, “We were actually going to ask if you would come Roxas, you have been cooped up in that stupid room of yours for too long, you need sunlight and fresh air.”

Roxas scowled, “thanks a lot…asshole.” He leant against his doorframe and watched Olette come out from behind Sora and regard Demyx with large eyes. She was interested in the Silhouettes far too much and this annoyed Roxas.

He didn’t want Olette to even look at them, they were his friends. He was one of them. Who did Olette think she was to waltz into the house and try to befriend the Supernatural’s? None of them liked her anyway and Roxas could barely tolerate the girls annoying fascination and curiosity.

She watched Demyx who was oblivious to the attention and Sora said to Roxas, “So are you coming or not little bro?”  
Roxas groaned then said, “I don’t even know where my swimmer trunks are.” Before he could say anything Demyx announced, “Oh I know where they are.” The Silhouette ran back into Roxas room and threw open his dresser and hurled Roxas swimmers in his direction and said, “Now you can come Roxas.”  
Demyx stood next to Roxas like an obedient dog then danced around again when the angry blonde subsided and finally nodded.

Roxas averted his eyes back to Olette who was still staring at the Silhouette. He finally snapped, “He doesn’t like getting stared at like that you know, it pisses him off.”  
Olette turned her eyes on him and blinked them owlishly and Demyx stopped and said in a false determined voice, “I don’t like getting stared at y’know.”

Sora frowned and shook his head. He reached out and grabbed hold of Olette’s hand and the brothers heard their mother’s voice ring out from downstairs. “Sora! Tell Roxas that he will be going with you.”

Instead of yelling back Sora pulled Olette after him, Demyx followed and Roxas scuffed his feet over the floorboards and reluctantly done the same.   
Roxas never had a say in anything, he didn’t see the point in arguing or even talking when everybody dictated his life for him.

Walking into the kitchen Sora instinctively stiffened when he saw the pink haired Silhouette that was Marluxia beside his mother. Olette regarded him curiously, Roxas nodded and Demyx bounced over and beamed, “Guess what Marly! I’m going to the pool!”

Marluxia flicked his fingers at Demyx and then said in his smooth, casual voice “What has the other half said about this little expedition of yours Demyx?”   
Demyx froze and Roxas felt the air tense. Then a cold voice echoed out, “What expedition Demyx?”  
The younger Silhouette took one glance to Zexion before flinging himself at the sour Silhouette and begging, “Can I go to the pool with Roxas? Please Zexy, I really wanna go!”

He was shot down with an icy glare and Sora said shakily to his mother, “Well we will go get ready; we will be back down soon.” The older brother grabbed the younger and Demyx followed with Zexion.   
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Demyx erupted and shouted, “Why won’t you let me go? You are so _unfair!”_

He stomped his foot and Roxas said to Zexion, “Come on Zex, he was really looking forward to it.” He cringed back when Zexion bore him down with steely eyes and Zexion snapped, “Why would I want to go, I would rather stay here and look for the danger that could ultimately be the end of us all and you want to go to the _pool?”_

There was a brief moment of silence before Demyx retorted, stumbling over his words.   
“If you don’t let me go with the others, I will annoy you so much that you won’t be able to work at all. I will drench everything with water and -and clone myself fifty times and annoy you to the end of the earth.”  
His eyes were growing wider and glassier and he refused to make eye contact with Zexion. He wrung his hands together and Zexion went silent before he snapped, “Fine, brat but you have to leave me alone after this if I do come.”

“Yay!” Demyx cheered “Thanks Zexy.” He went to hug Zexion but shadows enveloped the young Silhouettes chest and the Schemer said coldly, “Don’t you dare _touch_ me.” His voice was venomous and he disappeared, but it left Demyx with a smile.   
He spun around with his cloak billowing out behind him, grabbed both of Roxas’ hands and dragged him back into the bedroom. The shadows slammed the door shut and it left Olette with Sora standing in the hallway.

The girl sighed and then leant up against Sora and asked in a soft voice, “How can Roxas tolerate them when they are like that?” She looked up to Sora for an answer and the older brother shrugged, “Well Demyx is the friendliest out of all of them, the rest are downright nasty as you already know.” 

Sora turned towards his bedroom door and Olette asked, “The one Roxas is upset about, Axel, what is he like?”  
Sora shook his head and he said in a dark voice, “He is probably one of the worst; he can be incredibly nasty…” Sora trailed off then finished in a soft voice opening his door, “He has also taken my brother away from this family.”

Getting out of the car later on, Roxas hiked up his bag and flung his towel over his arm. The Aquatic Centre was busy today; many people were out with their families. Children ran through Zexion and Demyx and the Silhouettes trailed behind. Zexion was in a foul mood and though it seemed to cast a sullen mood over the humans, Demyx seemed unaffected. He practically skipped along the bricked pavement and launched through the entrance gates.  
Sora paid the entrance fee and the gang made their way into the Aquatic Centre. There was a large grandstand running on the left hand side of the pool. It was where Sora went over and sat down the bags. Then he and Olette went to the dress rooms and left Roxas with two Silhouettes.

Zexion climbed the large stairs and snapped, “Anyone of you annoys me and there will be hell to pay.” He leant against the concrete wall and Demyx ran over the wet cement to the side of the large pool and said delightedly, “This is awesome, I love it here.”

Roxas sat down his towels and other belongings and left them in the dutiful care of Zexion. He wandered over to the tiles of the shallow end and looked around the hustle and bustle of the pool. He didn’t like the water all too much; if it was cold, he had trouble getting in. Sora had often joked that it would have to be bath water for Roxas to get into the pool and half the time, the younger brother believed in what the older brother said.

Staring out over the vast blueness of the swimming pool Roxas put his hands on his hips and tried not to scowl. All these people that were having fun didn’t deserve to be happy when his whole life seemed to be falling apart.   
Finally, Roxas found himself being hauled up, he squawked in surprise when the water seemed to be rushing up to meet him. Water enveloped him and he jumped for the surface gasping for air.

There was a splash and Roxas saw the wet, sodden head of Demyx rise up. His eyes were visible over the water, the rest of him submerged.   
“You bastard” Roxas snapped and the lady near him gave him a disgusted look. She couldn’t see Demyx, he had to remind himself.

He stared at Demyx whose eyes glinted mischievously. Suddenly he rose up and spat the entire contents of his mouth right at Roxas’ face. He let out a wicked snicker, then dove under the water and sluiced through the water like a shark.

Roxas wiped his face of the offending liquid and heard Sora laughing. He turned around and saw his brother and Olette reaching the ladder. Sora chuckled, “Wow I’m surprised you’re in here Roxas, it takes you ages to even decide to come near the water let alone in it.”

Roxas flicked his hand of the water and looked up to the other end of the pool where Demyx was and said in a grim voice, “Well I had some persuasion.” They all looked then and Demyx was seated on the other end of the pool and he waved to everybody when he saw them looking.  
Roxas sighed “Well I’m in now, isn’t that what matters now?”

Sora laughed, “Well since you’re already in, I guess I have to do this.” Sora looked beside him then pushed Olette into the water. There was a squeal, a splash, Olette resurfaced looking vivid, and she howled, “Oh I hate you Sora.”   
She splashed a large wave at the brunette and Sora threw himself into the water and drifted away.

*****

Zexion was pissed; he had important work to do. He had to tack down Xemnas and Saix. Vincent was intent on finding Axel so the Schemer had no help from the Master at all. Roxas would be the targeted and he was at the pool of all places. He knew that the two would be prowling around for more blood and they were getting careless. Soon everybody would know. Then everybody would be in danger.  
Then to top everything off, Zexion had the snuffles.

His nose was blocked, his highly sensitive nose severely irritated by the chemicals in the pool. He couldn’t trace the faintest scent and now his head was starting to hurt. A child came tearing down the stand and ‘whooshed’ right through Zexion and annoyed the Silhouette further.

People all around him were squabbling and screaming, growing more and angrier Zexion imagined ending the noise. He wanted to pounce out and decapitate everybody around him; he imagined the blood falling down the steps.   
He paused when he felt small pricks dig into his lip and his fangs lengthened. The bloodlust rose in his chest but Zexion had to remind himself that he should have other things to be worrying about than killing humans…just yet.

Then snuffling again Zexion felt his nose throb painfully and his careful eyes searched out Demyx and Roxas on the far end of the pool near the diving podiums. Bringing his eyes back, Zexion caught sight of the shadows sifting and distorting at the entrance doors. The shadows swept in and Zexion saw a dazzle of sky blue hair.

Getting to his feet Zexion looked back to the pool and saw a large black spot starting to develop in the middle. It was somebody much worse and this situation had gone from unstable to critical.

Panic filling him, Zexion searched his head for the mental telepathy link he shared with Demyx. He vainly hoped that the younger Silhouette would listen. His mind burst with the exertion and finally he evoked a response from Demyx.

**“Wha-Zexy what’s going on?”**   
**“Demyx you have to get out of that pool, Roxas as well, get out IMMEDIATELY.”**   
**“But Zexy-”**   
**“Do what I tell you! Something has gone wrong.”**

Before Zexion could explain, he was knocked from the grandstand and knocked to the pavement next to the pool. Saix bared his teeth at him “You think you can help everyone you pathetic, little magician?”  
Zexion tried to struggle away but shadows crept up his wrists and bound him in place. As Saix chuckled cruelly, Zexion found himself stuck and very much rendered useless.

Demyx was confused. Zexion cut off abruptly and beside him Roxas done a cannonball off a diving block. Water splayed everywhere and Demyx reached under the water and pulled Roxas up. The blonde shook his darkened gold spikes and looked up at Demyx questioningly.

The Water Mage looked around the pool and then saw the darkening water spreading out towards them. Fright filled him and he hauled the human out of the water. They fell onto the pavement and Demyx searched for Zexion in horror. Why today? He had no idea.

Roxas was confused by Demyx’s actions before his eyes searched around the pool. Then the Silhouette spoke, “Roxas- where is your brother and the ‘Girly’?” He replied in a shaky voice, “U-up at the slide, Dem what is going on?” he didn’t get an answer. He looked back out towards the pool then heard the first scream erupt out.

It shattered his insides and sent a chill right down the length of his spine. He craned his neck to the entrance of the pool and saw what the commotion was about and what he saw made his blood run cold. Saix pounced upon another swimmer and all around people got up to their feet and screamed as loud as they could. 

Demyx tugged at his arm and whispered frantically “Come on Roxas we can’t stay here, we have to go now!” he pulled the smaller blonde along the pavement but they were soon hit with a wave of people running towards the back fence. That was where Roxas was separated from Demyx.

Demyx yelped out in fear and cried out desperately, “Roxas!” but he soon lost sight of the blonde and he was standing in a wave of panicking people. 

Roxas was pushed back by an asshole of another swimmer and he stumbled again as he fell over a person lying on the ground. People parted and Roxas got a clean view of the pool and saw the large black spot forming in the center of the pool. A child swam desperately away from the chaos ensuing up the front of the pool and Roxas wanted to scream out.   
But it was too late.

Suddenly there was a crack and the child was sucked into the black water, that was where a fountain of blood spurted up and cascaded back into the pool staining it. Red was everywhere and it was the only colour that painted Roxas’ vision.  
He was knocked over back towards the edge of the pool, a wave of crimson/blue water swept over the ledge, and Roxas saw a dismembered finger hit the tiles. Flesh hung frayed at the end and a polished white nub that was the bone gleamed when it caught the sunlight.

Roxas screamed out in terror and then he was hauled up and he was thrown back into the water. Water filled his nose and his ears and he was consumed.

Demyx swept through the crowd and called out in terror “Roxas, oh god Roxas where are _you!”_ he misted through the throngs of people and searched for at least somebody he knew. 

Olette was thrown off her feet and she landed to the pavement with a loud thud. Her arm throbbed painfully when she fell on it and she groaned as more people fell over her. She had been separated from Sora when they had emerged from the gates of the water slide when the chaos had ensued. She scrambled to her feet and stood on tiptoes to see anybody she knew and by that, she even meant the demons that had accompanied her there.

Demyx misted through the throngs of people and saw Olette get knocked by another jerk of a swimmer. She struggled to keep her balance and relieved to see somebody Demyx disappeared back into mist and called out, “Hang on Olette, I’m coming.”

Sora pushed down a person that got in his way and called out in a frantic voice, “Roxas where the hell are you?” he grew more and more frustrated as people got in his way. He needed to look for his brother, he was the target of both Saix and Xemnas and he was missing. “Roxas!” Sora shouted again and sweeping around desperately Sora caught sight of Demyx and Olette; again, Roxas was not in sight. 

Sora was getting bloody terrified but he dare not think the worst. It was not over yet. Outside of the Aquatic center, Sora heard the sirens blaring of the rescue squad but there was nothing that could be done to end this massacre. 

The water was rushing through him and Roxas flailed his arms, sluicing through the water trying to reach the surface. His lungs hurt from the lack of air and the more he seemed to struggle the further the surface of the water seemed to be. He finally opened his eyes and was instantly horrified and shocked. Instead of his eyesight being blurry, everything under the water was razor sharp and incredibly clear.   
But what he saw, he did not want to see in the slightest.

Not an arm’s length away from him with his amber eyes glowing and veils of dark grey tresses shading his face was Xemnas. His terrifying, glowing eyes bored into Roxas’ and his arms shot out like a striking snake and grabbed hold of Roxas’ arm.

With bubbles of air, that Roxas desperately needed streamed from his mouth and he tried to kick away. But Xemnas’ grip was inexorable and he yanked the boy to him and they began to rise.

As they hit the surface Roxas gasped for air and Xemnas’ grip moved from his arm and fisted into his golden locks. It hurt like hell and Roxas cried out in pain as Xemnas lifted him from the water. He continued to rise and Roxas’ feet just scraped the surface of the water with his toes as he kicked out uselessly.   
Opening his eyes through the pain Roxas was able to see the chaos that had ensued from the appearance of these Silhouettes. But as his heart thundered in his chest all Roxas could think, of that this was Xemnas and he had him.  
He was going to die.

Sora spun around and caught sight of the pair rising out of the water, he instantly recognised his brother. A Silhouette was holding up Roxas and Sora didn’t need to ask whom the man was holding his brother.  
Fright pooled in his stomach and his shout of surprise echoed throughout the Aquatic Centre. “Roxas!”

His shout drew the attention of the younger Silhouette Demyx and when he saw Roxas dangling helplessly from the grip of Xemnas, something just snapped.   
Olette jumped when the smoke swirled around their feet and Demyx snarled savagely, his eyes going black and fangs erupting from the roof of his mouth. He swept from the pavement and right towards the figure of Xemnas.

Zexion craned his neck when he felt Demyx’s mind slip from his. He was emotionless and when he was like that, The Schemer knew that he was going to do something stupid. He struggled against the iron grip of Saix but he was able to see Demyx streaking across the water right to Xemnas.  
Damn his stupidity.

 

Demyx collided with Xemnas, the impact made the water ripple around them and Demyx jumped back and shot half the contents of the pool towards Xemnas. As he was hit, he let go of Roxas who fell back into the pool. Now the blonde was able to taste the chlorine and the copper tang of blood and he began to choke.  
Demyx hissed at Xemnas his courage starting to waver. As he regained his conscious, Demyx began to realise what he had just done.

Back at the other end of the pool, Saix was distracted when Demyx attacked Xemnas. Zexion took the opportunity to heave Saix off and skitter back a few steps and summon is Lexicon.   
Magic erupted from the pages and using the powerful magic, Zexion lifted Saix high into the air then threw him with massive force into the concrete grandstand. There was a loud explosion and the grandstand began to crumble and collapse.

Zexion didn’t care about Saix and his attention was turned to the others. He wouldn’t be able to attack Xemnas with Demyx and Roxas so close. But it was Xemnas, and the primal urge to attack him overwhelmed Zexion.   
He held out his hand and sizzling blue and green magic sparked at his hands and he aimed it right to Xemnas who had turned around and saw the magic coming towards him. 

Demyx saw the magic erupt from Zexion and he silently cursed the Schemer. If he or Roxas were caught in that inferno of magic, they would both be incinerated. Xemnas lost his gaze on the younger, useless Silhouette and turned towards the threat.   
Demyx took that as an opportunity to duck under the water, seize Roxas, and dart to the end of the pool. As the hit, the surface Roxas sputtered and coughed up the bloody water. He felt dizzy as Demyx sat him up and his relieved brother gripped him.

Even though Roxas was disorientated, his instincts told him to run. He pushed his brother’s hand away and croaked, “Run, we have to get out of here!”  
“How?” Sora hissed, “The back fence is infested with people trying to get out and Saix is at the end of the pool.” The brunette looked up and saw said Silhouette emerging from the rubble of the grandstand.  
They were trapped like animals.

Demyx looked around the pool and then his eyes rested on Zexion. He said to him frantically through their telepathic bond _“Zexion we have to get out of here. You can’t fight Xemnas by yourself. You have to help us, please!”_  
Zexion heard him and he seemed to struggle against not attacking Xemnas. The Silhouette didn’t attack back; he gazed at Zexion with smouldering amber eyes and shook his head. He turned back around and saw Roxas again. The blonde was his target and he wouldn’t stop until he got him.

Zexion snapped out of his angry haze as Xemnas turned away and concern and terror started to envelop him. Zexion was usually calm and stoic in situations but this was different. How could everybody rely on him when he was on the other side of the pool. 

Xemnas held out his glowing red hand and barked in his low monotonous voice, “Come here boy.” He clenched his hand into a fist and Roxas jerked towards him. Sora and Olette cried out, grabbed both arms, and held him back.   
Zexion was consumed by panic and his legs started to carry him towards the scene. He started to run, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. _“I need a miracle,”_ he thought. Zexion had half hoped that Axel would have come back by now and performed a miraculous escape and got everybody home safely, but that wasn’t going to happen was it?

Roxas cried out in pain as his body was pulled closer and closer to Xemnas. Olette cried to Sora, “We can’t hold him forever Sora, he is too _strong.”_ Tears rolled down her cheeks and Demyx ran behind them and heaved Roxas from behind, his strength greater than that of humans.   
As they tried to get Roxas away from Xemnas, Zexion saw red spark to life in the palm of Xemnas’ hand. “Demyx!” he almost shrieked he knew he couldn’t get there in time and he faltered slightly when he saw the sparking red ball of magic aim at Demyx.   
The Mage lifted his head and saw the danger and he copped the ball in his chest. The impact made him flip back and he landed on the concrete stairs with a loud bang. Then Zexion was thrown back and he hit the pole behind him.

Roxas’ cry was strained, _“Demyx! Zexion!”_  
The pain in his body was unbearable as Xemnas tried to draw Roxas to him. Sora and Olette struggled against the strength trying to hold the blonde brother back but they were failing. Failing badly.

Saix smirked at the sight before him and couldn’t help but bare his fangs in toothy delight. This was just getting better and better, the Silhouettes couldn’t fight them. They were powerless and soon that blasted red head, Axel would fall as well. Saix wanted to be the one to kill him oh and how he craved the feelings and the want. His elfin ears suddenly pricked and his senses tingled painfully at a threat looming over them. The sky darkened even more and Saix barked, “Xemnas!”

The silver haired Silhouette looked up briefly then snarled as the magic bond he had connected to Roxas suddenly snapped. Xemnas stepped back over the red water and saw plumes of black smoke in front of the three humans. Red came from it and a large red cloak swept out and an emotionless voice came out, “You are weak Xemnas, you cannot even combat against the humans.”

As the smoke cleared, Roxas saw Vincent step out and his whole body filled with relief. Vincent was there to help them. “Vincent” he breathed and the Master Silhouette glanced at the three and said in a smooth voice, “Don’t worry you three, I will get you out of here in a safe and timely matter, I have work to do first.”

Sora hauled Roxas up and Olette whispered “Another Silhouette?” Roxas nodded his head weakly and whispered, “He is a Master Silhouette, I think he is here to destroy Xemnas.” The blonde brother turned to his dark friend lying on the concrete stairs and whispered, “Oh god is he alright?”  
Sora reluctantly let go of his brother who fell beside Demyx and shook the Silhouettes shoulder almost frantically “Dem, jeez are you alright?” There was a groan in response and the sandy blonde lifted his head abruptly and exclaimed in a worried voice, “Where’s Zexion?”

As Demyx looked for Zexion Roxas lifted his head to see Saix grapple Vincent from the side and they fell with a thud on the tiles running alongside the pool. Saix’s teeth were bared viciously and Vincent held the mongrels face in his hand. Then, from the shadows, Roxas saw the shadows sweep into Vincent’s gauntlet hand and something large and black began to manifest into it.   
Saix saw what was coming and bounced back snarling in an animalistic way. However, in a sweep of black and red, Vincent recollected himself and with his blood red eyes bordering on a dark crimson colour, he lifted his hand.   
A gun sparked in the dull light, it was huge. Roxas could have sworn that it was the length of his entire arm. It wasn’t as impressive as Xigbar’s guns but it looked far more powerful.

There was a loud, ear-shattering bang as the gun was fired and it hit Saix’s arm as he tried to dodge away. There was a howl of pain, shadows, black liquid spattered everywhere, half of Saix’s arm was blown to bits, and it wasn’t regenerating back.

Vincent said in a deathly smooth voice to a furious looking Xemnas “This is between you and I Xemnas, your mongrel is of no use.”   
Xemnas shot a menacing glare to the humans on the pavement before Vincent spoke again, “You thought you could hide? Thought you could escape from the Three Masters, you were wrong Xemnas, your punishment is death.”  
Xemnas smirked “We cannot die we are Dark Immortals.”  
His smirk dropped when Vincent cocked his gun and pointed it to him, “You thought wrong, when somebody is deemed to die by the Three Masters, the punishment is fit to be carried out. Your mortal soul is doomed to be vanquished.”

Vincent shot his gun again, there was a flash of blinding red light, two large blades erupted from Xemnas’ hands, and he lunged over the pool and ran at Vincent. The Master swept up in his cloak and darted away and Xemnas’ eyes fell on Roxas.  
His amber eyes flashed dangerously and he started to make his way over to them. Sora cried out in horror and pulled Demyx up as Olette pulled up Roxas.  
But before Xemnas could reach them, Zexion raced in front of them and demanded in his stern voice “You won’t touch them you monster.” In a split second, Zexion pulled out his Lexicon and summoned the magic to him.  
It enveloped everybody and they were plunged into darkness.  
For now, they were safe.

As the shadows whipped around them and glimmers of light began to appear. Solid ground rushed up to meet them and the large impact separated everybody. Roxas fell away from Sora and Zexion was thrown from Demyx.   
The terrace outside their house came into view and there were simultaneous groans of pain and somewhat relief. Roxas came to full consciousness, rolled up to his feet, and threw his hands up on the air exasperatedly. “What was that?” he shouted, “What the fuck was that?” he stumbled on his feet and then glanced back to Sora, “You have to stay out of this Sora, Xemnas is after me and you can get killed trying to protect me.” His sharp blue eyes wandered over to Demyx who sat up putting his hand to his head. “You shouldn’t have done what you did Dem” Roxas said in his rough voice “You too Zexion.”

He stood there on shaky feet and Zexion got up dusting dirt from his cloak. A trickle of black/red blood trickled from his forehead and made a tear trail down the pale side of his face. He wiped it away, smeared it across his cheek, and almost seemed to snap at Roxas “We can’t sit by and watch Xemnas destroy you Roxas, it would kill Axel and everybody would suffer for it as well.”

“You’re our friend Roxas,” Demyx said in his quiet voice, “Everybody in that house has been alone for over a century, all we knew was how to be monsters. But-but then you come along and, oh I don’t know. You made everybody happier.”  
He looked to Zexion who nodded his head once and said “and you managed to bring everybody together. Nobody spoke to each other and Axel has been better than he ever has been.”

Roxas turned away casting his gaze to the grass, “He didn’t come today, he didn’t come to help _any of us.”_ His hands clenched into tight balls either side of him and he said, “Why do we have to rely on Vincent when Saix and now Xemnas attack us?” He spun around, his cerulean eyes watering, “We could have died and we wouldn’t have come to help lift a god-damned finger.”

“You don’t know that Roxas!” Demyx hurried to his feet and took away his hand from his head. He had a gash across his forehead and he argued, “He might not have known about any of this, he would die for you Roxas, he would do anything.”  
Roxas was silent for a moment, contemplating his friend’s words then he shook his head and he said, “I don’t want to talk about him.”

He turned on his heels and began to walk up the long driveway and Demyx yelled after him “Oh come on Roxas, you can’t sulk about him, he will come back and everything will get better.” Roxas continued on his walk up to the house, he paid no heed to what was just said.   
As the house neared Roxas suddenly looked up when the front door was thrown open. He saw his mother closely flanked by Marluxia. Their faces were pale with shock but Aerith’s face lit up with relief when she saw her youngest son, then Sora and Olette emerging from the trees.   
Marluxia had a different reaction; he turned around and shouted back into the house, “They’re back!”

Roxas groaned inwardly then the door rattled as shadows poured out and there was a high female shriek, “Roxas Strife, how dare you scare me like that!” Several knives flew out and landed at Roxas’ feet who danced back in fright. Larxene appeared and then hugged Roxas to her hissing furiously, “Just wait till I get my hands on Axel, he didn’t come and save you.” 

She looked up to see a battered Zexion and Demyx. Marluxia yelped from next to Aerith, “Zexion you’re bleeding.”  
Aerith turned around then back to Roxas when there was a rustle in the trees and two wounded people came out. She saw them clearly and said in a low uncertain voice, “Who are they?”

Larxene turned around with her arm draped over Roxas’ shoulders and snapped, “So what the hell is going on here, how did you guys get away from all that mayhem?”  
Zexion looked at her grimly and said, “We had help.”

Demyx paused uneasily and glared at Aerith, “She can see us.”   
Roxas sensed the weariness, the hostility building up, he pulled away from Larxene and Sora came running up behind him halting to a stop at the edge of the porch. “We can explain Mum” Sora begged, “We were going to tell you about _everything.”_

Sora looked to Roxas, feeling the panic rise up when Roxas simply rolled his eyes. The Silhouettes all froze when Roxas climbed the steps to the Mansion before spinning around to his Mother, his face twisted into a scowl.  
“Mum, I don’t think there is a point in hiding it from you anymore. Hear this bluntly and simply… Sooner or later, I will be killed and whoever tries to get in the way will be killed as well.”


	22. Together

Axel misted into the bedroom and was greeted by the sight of darkness.  
His sharp nocturnal eyes sought out the surroundings of what was his bedroom.  
He approached the bed and saw Roxas huddled under the thick blankets; he was almost hugging his knees to his chin.  
Axel knew full well that the boy had been hurting in his absence. Because he had hurt too.

Axel had wanted to give up and return the instant he kicked Roxas out of the ‘In Between’ on that horrible day.  
He had dragged the absence out and now he and Roxas were suffering the consequences.  
He misted to the bed and heard the blonde’s soft breathing. He knew he couldn’t be away any longer. He hurt too much to be separated from Roxas. His anger had been irrational and stupid that day. It was his fault for getting so angry.

Axel hoisted himself onto the bed beside Roxas, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy.  
He had his back to Axel but the Silhouette was content in just lying next to him.

Roxas was in darkness in his dream. He was freezing and he was alone. He wandered aimlessly trying to find a way out from the blackness.  
Then he saw a light, he instantly followed it and as he got closer, he felt the warmth envelop him. The light was a figure and Roxas knew it was Axel. He didn’t hesitate and he ran forward towards the Silhouette and embraced him tightly.

Axel sat there watching the blonde fidget in his dreams. His face was pinched in worry and concern; he muttered one word, “Cold!”  
Axel frowned then watched with wide eyes when Roxas turned over and instantly moved right to Axel and snuggled into his chest. “Axel” he sighed and the red head thought that the boy had woken up. 

After a few minutes, Axel realised that Roxas was still asleep.  
His face was smooth and devoid of any worry lines or frowns. A small smile played on his lips and Axel had the biggest urge to bend his head down and kiss those pouty lips.  
Instead, Axel settled down lying next to Roxas and wrapped his arms around the small boy. He bundled him to his chest and Roxas settled and Axel was sure he wouldn’t move until he woke.

Wouldn’t he get a morning shock?

*****

He was warm; he didn’t want to open his eyes. This was the warmest he had been all week. His conscience was awake but he didn’t dare open his eyes and lose the dream state he was in.  
He strained his back and pushed out one of his arms then hit his head on something solid and warm.

Snapping out of his sleep, Roxas awoke to the sight of a black, fabric covered chest. His breath hitched and he dared himself to believe that he wasn’t dreaming.  
Fuck it all to hell if it was Demyx though.

 

Roxas slid his eyes up and felt a thrill of excitement and guilt tear through him. The ungodly, satanically red hair greeted him.  
Axel had come back home.  
Roxas brought his hands up, gripped Axel’s chest and whispered “Oh I’m so sorry Axel. I didn’t mean to hurt you the way I did it was my entire fault and-” he was instantly hushed by Axel who whispered “I was a moron Roxas; I hate myself for hurting you. You said it before and I chose to ignore you, now look at us.”

“Don’t hate yourself,” Roxas said fingering the zippers of Axel’s coat. Now that Axel was back, Roxas didn’t know what to do. He felt awkward and guilty.  
After a moment of silence Axel muttered, “I haven’t ruined everything have I?” his voice sounded regretful and Roxas forced his gaze upwards and focused on Axel’s darkening emerald gaze.

Nine days could make a hell of a lot of difference. Roxas let go of Axel’s zipper, wrapped his arms around the Silhouette tightly and said in a teary voice, “I missed you so much, I’m not strong enough to kick Demyx’s ass when he annoyed me.”

Axel chuckled at the remark and guessed “But I’m still not forgiven for leaving?”  
“Not entirely” was Roxas’ short reply. He nuzzled into Axels cloak then he was overcome with the thought if, no, when Axel would find out about the incident at the pool, he would flip the lid.

The blonde didn’t realise that he had stiffened until the Silhouette shifted and asked, “What’s the matter Roxas? Did something happen?” The anger was instantaneous and the silver chains and zippers began to burn.

Roxas shook his head weakly, suddenly scared of what today held. His Mother would catch him up by what he had said yesterday.  
By what Marluxia said, Sora had tried to explain everything to a frantic Aerith. But by then, all the Silhouettes had disappeared and wouldn’t show themselves except Marluxia. They weren’t going to listen to Sora and with his spat at Riku, the Spirits wouldn’t appear either.

Olette had tried to back up Sora’s pleas but it only stressed Aerith out more. Now that she could see the Silhouettes, they wouldn’t be so careless around the house anymore. Demyx might be an exception but no doubt, Zexion would put him on a leash now.  
Roxas peered past Axel, caught sight of the time and almost gasped, “Ten to Nine! What the hell? Mum would have woken me up long ago.” He scrambled out of bed and Axel instantly began to whine, “Oh Roxas, come on! I have barely been back for five minutes.”

Roxas ruffled his hair “I don’t care; Mum would have woken me up no later than eight.” He stomped over the floorboards to the door “You could have caught up on your stuff in the week you were gone.” Axel blinked “I was gone a week?”  
“Longer” retorted Roxas yanking the door open. He went out into the hall and Axel begrudgingly followed.

“Morning Mrs. Strife” Olette announced as Sora let her in the front door. Aerith was in the kitchen washing the dishes; she muttered a distant hello and Sora asked. “Uh Mum! Its quarter to nine, you usually wake Roxas up.” 

Aerith dropped her sponge and Sora saw Marluxia mist in through the front door. He bought the scent of roses with him and he said gracefully “We have all gone through a lot lately; it’s not up to you Spirit boy.”

“Oh” Sora challenged, “Come on then Petals, you don’t know Roxas as well as I do.”  
“Well I recall Roxas choosing us instead of you dopey” Marluxia shot back. Aerith spun around looking exasperated “Please do not fight, I have enough on my mind already.”  
She stopped talking when there was a thud from upstairs, she turned back to the sink and Olette sat herself at the island bar while Sora stalked over to the fridge and yanked open the door.

There was a moment of silence and Marluxia chuckled and started to walk to the foot of the stairs when he said in his smooth voice, “Why good morning Roxas-oh.”  
Marluxia faltered and Sora abandoned the fridge, raced to the doorway to the sitting area and saw Marluxia glaring behind a worried looking Roxas.  
Olette gasped and rocked her stool and as Roxas appeared, Aerith spun around and gave a faint scream.

The tall, lanky figure of Axel appeared and he gave Olette and Aerith equally, dangerous looks. He looked back and forth and then hissed, “Can they see me?” Roxas stepped back when the heat intensified and Olette squeaked, “Is that-.”  
Sora nodded grimly “Meet Axel.” 

There was a clatter of footsteps and Aerith shut the fridge and moved towards her awkward looking son. “Aerith” Marluxia warned, shooting Axel a nervous stare.  
The red heads eyes narrowed and he watched Aerith like a hawk. He didn’t step away when the Mother came closer and Sora noticed his hands clench into tight balls, he was getting frustrated.

Aerith clapped her hands on Roxas’ shoulders and almost shrieked, “What was your problem yesterday? You aren’t going to die, making me worry for nothing.” She shook him slightly “Is what Sora told me true…Roxas?” She faltered and Roxas hesitated bringing his large blue eyes into the anxious green eyes of his Mother.

“Roxas isn’t going to die!” Axel retorted looking to Marluxia then Sora.

Roxas bit his lower lip then whispered “It’s true mum” he didn’t say anything else. The Aerith said in a trembling voice, “So everything that happened at the pool-?” Roxas nodded “Yeah it happened, we were saved.”

“Pool!” Axel exclaimed, “What happened at the pool?”

“Does Dad know about this?” Roxas added softly and Aerith shook her head, “I haven’t told him anything, he is a simple man that doesn’t believe… in this sort of situation.” 

“What happened yesterday?”

Roxas looked down to his feet and Aerith whispered “Why didn’t you tell me Roxas, if you were so anxious and fearing all our lives-” “You wouldn’t have listened to me” Roxas interrupted “You don’t believe in the whole Supernatural charade.” 

“Somebody answer me!”

“We can get out of here Roxas,” Aerith whispered, the blonde retorted, “No, they are my friends Mum. They are risking their own necks protecting me and to an extent Sora and the rest of you.”

Sick of being ignored Axel let the flames erupt around him and he roared angrily, “What the fuck happened yesterday?” he grabbed Roxas away from Aerith and Roxas shouted out in alarm “Axel-!”

Aerith screamed and Sora jumped to his Mother ready to pull her away. Before Axel could lose control completely there was a metallic screech of metal clashing together. 

Roxas had shut his eyes when he was jerked away roughly, when he reopened his eyes, he saw a large pink scythe centimeters away from his face. Two large, spiked red discs that Axel held defensively in front of him stopped the scythe short. Roxas was standing in between Axels arms and the Pyro’s weapons had clashed against Marluxia’s.

Roxas let a cry escape his throat as Marluxia snapped, “We have been trying to protect the family Axel, you disappeared and Roxas was almost killed as a result.” Axel hissed and Roxas felt the flames and the power tremor throughout the Silhouettes body. 

“Axel!” the command was sharp and Roxas craned his neck to see Zexion appear and stand beside Axel and Marluxia, “Weapons down you two.”  
He was ignored, there was more smoke when Demyx, Xigbar and Larxene appeared.  
Sora pulled Aerith away from the dangerous conflict; he was unable to help his younger brother. He was caged between the two feuding Silhouettes. 

“Idiots” Larxene shrieked “Axel let Roxas go!”  
“Axel” Zexion said holding up his hands, “Calm down.”  
“What happened yesterday?” Axel said in his anger-coated voice, he was shaking with anger and Roxas was feeling a little scared. Marluxia didn’t budge with his scythe and Xigbar announced his angry, gravelly voice “Moron’s drop the weapons NOW, you don’t have to fight.”  
Axel dropped his arms slightly and Demyx scooted closer and coaxed Roxas out, “Come on” he murmured grabbing Roxas. The younger Silhouette pulled Roxas away from the immediate danger and Zexion snapped, “Roxas went to the pool yesterday with his friends, Demyx and I had accompanied him. Xemnas and Saix appeared and Xemnas was very close to killing Roxas.”

Axel froze and Zexion retorted harshly, “I was attacked by Saix and unable to help, Demyx got Roxas away but he was hurt in the process as well.” His face was stony as he shouted to Axel, “We were hoping that you would come and save everyone, but our hopes were dashed weren’t they? Vincent came and gave us time to escape; I got to the others and used the Lexicons magic to transport us here.”

“We haven’t seen Vincent since” Demyx added hugging Roxas almost protectively and Axel snarled “Get your hands off him Demyx!”  
“Why?” Larxene counted, her eyes narrowing like a cats. “Demyx was all he had when you weren’t here Axel.” She stalked over to Demyx and Roxas and then Axel’s attention was turned away. 

Both Axel and Marluxia were shocked when they both had two large guns pointed in their face. Xigbar looked outraged and his one eye was black. “Drop your goddamned weapons.”  
Xigbar was menacing and Marluxia summoned back his scythe and Axel dropped his weapons to his sides.  
They disappeared in plumes of red and black smoke and Roxas watched him wearily. Axel looked hurt, guilty, angry and confused. He could read that just by looking at his eyes. His heart began to thunder irregularly in his chest and his knees began to feel weak. 

Axel turned towards him and his whole face seemed helpless. Roxas wiggled away from Demyx’s grip and he ran towards the pyro and threw his arms around the red heads thin waist. “It was my fault,” Axel said in a pathetic voice, “I let my feelings get in the way and you were almost killed because of my negligence.”  
Roxas shook his head frantically, “Don’t leave us again Axel.”  
“I won’t” Axel reassured immediately “I’m not going to leave you again Roxas.”  
He lifted his eyes to his friends and he said in a dark voice, “This war is coming closer and closer you know that, we need to all be in this together.”

Xigbar lowered his guns and nodded “We have to Axel, all of us.” Xigbar shot a look directly at Demyx who whined, “Why do you look at me for?”  
He didn’t get a reply and Axel turned towards Sora, Olette and Aerith, “You guys can’t get too involved in this.”  
Sora frowned when a cool voice came from the stairs, “If the Silhouettes are going to fight for our freedom, we will gladly join.”

“No!” Sora’s shout was instantaneous; Roxas turned away from Axel and saw the Spirits standing at the entrance of the stairs. Riku stood up the front with his arms folded across his chest. Naminé and Kairi stood either side of him and the others stood behind. 

Sora stepped away from Aerith, his voice rising in octaves “Guys, you can’t. The Silhouettes are better-.”  
“What Sora!” snapped Riku, “You think we can’t defend ourselves? We have been fighting the Demons for over a hundred years!”

Riku earned some scowls his direction but then Naminé stepped forward and walked towards the Silhouettes. She walked up to Larxene and the Silhouette sister whispered, “Hello Nami.”  
Naminé glanced up her sister, her eyes filling with misty tears. She had not spoken to her sister in the longest of times because of what they were. Now, Naminé wasn’t going to let the Supernatural differences separate them again.

Larxene hesitated as she looked down to her little sister. Naminé had never left her thoughts ever since they had both died. She was aware of her friends eyes on her, ‘Screw them’ she thought vehemently.  
She stepped forward and put her arms out.  
Naminé reached out tentatively and brushed her fingers across Larxene’s arm. She felt the hum of electricity under the black cloak and had to refrain from jerking away. Next thing she knew, the younger blonde sister was pulled into a bone-crushing hug.  
In that instant, the sisters weren’t enemies. Larxene wasn’t a Silhouette and Naminé wasn’t a Spirit. They were the sisters that had defied the odds and fought against Xemnas to the very end of the Psychiatric Hospital. 

Naminé started to bawl her eyes out and she clutched Larxene’s cloak, “I missed you Larxene, I was so frightened and then I couldn’t see or talk to you.”  
Larxene ran her fingers through Naminé’s long blonde locks and said softly “I missed you too Nami, damn us being different. Who cares, you are my little sister and I will protect you until my next dying breath.”  
“But you can’t die” Naminé whispered and Larxene smiled toothily, “Exactly.”

The scene between the sisters hit Sora hard. All the years he had claimed to protect his younger brother, he hadn’t.  
Roxas didn’t love him the way Naminé loved Larxene, the brothers treated each other like shit and Sora would never admit that it was himself that caused the fractured relationship between him and his brother.

“Aww” Demyx said, “How sweeeeet.” His ocean eyes went round and he stared to Zexion, “I’m in a hugging mood now.”  
Zexion cut him off at the knees, “Don’t even think about it!” he hissed, Demyx withdrew and continued to smile at his ‘sort of’ friend Larxene.

Roxas smiled to himself and he leant against Axel, maybe the worst of the conflict against the Spirits and the Silhouettes was finally over.

Riku cast a dark glance to Zexion and Axel, “Do we have a truce?”  
Axel nodded “We do, we Silhouettes will not hurt the Spirits, our target is Xemnas and if Saix is still around we will kill him too.” Riku nodded “The Spirits won’t harm or attack any of you, including the humans who decide to stay.”

Axel nodded and stepped forward, making sure he shadowed Roxas protectively. He held out his hand and Riku shook it tentatively. A faint smile graced the Spirits lips and from behind Axel and Roxas, Sora nodded and mouthed a ‘thank you’. He knew when Riku meant humans, he meant Olette. He wouldn’t hurt her. 

Aerith turned to Sora and whispered, “Sora, honey, what’s happening?”  
Sora turned to his Mother, “The two sides have been fighting and they just made a truce, they are going to hunt down the bastard that wants to hurt us. With them working together we are unbeatable.”  
He added the last part so Aerith wouldn’t worry.  
His little traitorous voice whispered at the back of his mind “You don’t know if they will win do you? Giving your family false hope is wrong; the others know that most will die.”

Marluxia inched towards Aerith and whispered “Are you ok with us Aerith?” his large powder blue eyes were anxious and Aerith gulped “O-oh I’m not sure just yet; all of you lived here without us noticing?”

Roxas peeked from around Axel, “Oh, we knew. You didn’t. It was so hard hiding all of them from you Mum, especially Demyx, but it seems like Marluxia was the tougher one to rein back.” He chuckled slightly, Marluxia bowed and brandished a rose and handed it to Aerith, “I couldn’t help myself” he admitted sheepishly.  
Aerith smiled slightly, her eyes round with terror and worry. She took the Rose offered to her, Now she definitely wanted to go back upstairs and grab her Rosary.

Olette pulled Sora forward and ended up beside Axel and Roxas. The girl looked Axel up and down her eyes sparkling “So” she gushed stupidly, “You are the infamous Axel?”  
The Pyro lifted his brow and glared at Olette dangerously, “Who are you?”  
Olette went slightly pink and she whispered, “I’m Olette.”

Roxas didn’t like the way Olette was looking at Axel and he made a cutthroat gesture to Sora, sending him a clear warning. Sora frowned and held out his arms, meaning that he couldn’t do anything. Roxas looked back to Olette venomously and the girl said in a breathless voice “We can all be friends now can’t we?”

At her remark, all the Silhouettes took a step back averting her gaze and Axel hoisted Roxas up and stepped across the room. “I don’t even know you” he spat nastily “Keep to your Spirit boy there.” 

His face went dark and Demyx implied “You will never be like us, so you can’t be our friend, sorry.” The way he said it made Roxas smile, Demyx was such a dork. He said it to Olette with a bright smile on his face; he defied all meaning of being a Silhouette.  
They saw themselves dark and evil.  
Demyx was bright, bubbly and friendly.

Roxas was about to say something when at that moment, all the Silhouettes bristled and they all snapped their gaze to the front door.  
“What is it?” Aerith yelped watching Marluxia’s reaction and Zexion whispered, “There’s somebody here.”

That got a reaction out of everybody and Roxas pulled free from Axel and ducked under the window to see. He peeked over the windowsill and saw the trees. He saw shadows pouring out and he whispered, “It’s a Silhouette.”  
There was a small ‘eep’ from Demyx “Is it Xemnas?”

“No”

“Oh god its Saix isn’t it?”

“Dem, shut up!”

Roxas searched the trees and then he saw red and he was certain. “It’s Vincent!” he scrambled up from the floor and Axel exclaimed in alarm “Roxas! What the hell? Get back-”

He was ignored.

“What is the go with everybody ignoring me TODAY?” Axel shouted irritably.  
He didn’t get an answer.

As Roxas ran out, Sora, Olette and the Silhouettes streamed from the house.  
Roxas and Axel reached Vincent first.  
They were the first to see the black blood decorating Vincent’s magnificent red cloak. Axel was the one that caught the Master Silhouette when the he slumped forward and they both fell to the ground.

Axel was surprised, Vincent wasn’t that heavy. He was rather light. He laid the Master down and Roxas peeled away the ruined cloak. Vincent’s left arm, the one with the gauntlet was damaged.  
The gold was dented and broken beyond repair. His arm would be ripped to shreds, immortal or not Silhouettes could still lose use of a limb if they weren’t taken care of.  
Axel bit his lip at the damage and Roxas whispered, “How are we going to fix this?”  
Axel shrugged uselessly, then Zexion dropped beside them and said “His hands been crushed in that arm armour. I don’t know whether or not we can pull it off without severing his hand from his arm.”

“That can happen?” Roxas asked incredulously and Zexion scoffed “Of course, we may be Immortal but we can still get hurt.” He lifted up Vincent’s smashed gauntlet hand and Vexen approached and knelt down, “You know we have to get it off Zexion, this Silhouette is crucial in our fight against Xemnas.”

Silhouettes crowded around, all of them regarding the Master Silhouette curiously. He would help them beat Xemnas.  
“How do we kill Xemnas?” Demyx asked, it was a silly question yet nobody knew the answer. Olette nodded “He’s right, you guys are Immortal.”

“Not quite” Roxas said. He contemplated what he had heard from Vincent when he was fighting at the pool, “Xemnas has been punished, the verdict had been put down. His soul was mortal.”  
“The ‘In Between’” Axel muttered, “That’s how he intends to kill him, he wants us. I can seek the souls and Roxas can reap them.” He looked back down to the unconscious Vincent, “He’s a clever devil you know.”  
“That’s why he is a Master” Roxas replied.  
As they were debating whether or not to move Vincent, he began to stir. He got up and gazed around him. He saw all the Silhouettes bunch together and hide behind a large gorilla type Silhouette. 

How many illegal creations did Xemnas make? It wasn’t their faults but their lives could be simply put, if the Master wills it, they will all die.  
He hissed in pain and glanced at his hand. The gauntlet had crushed and sharp bits of golden steel dug into numerous places up and down his arm. He didn’t want to let the others know he was in pain.

He looked up and he saw the worried face of Roxas, “Are you alright?” he asked. Vincent clenched his jaw tightly and gazed to his hand, blood still poured from it, it stung like hell and to top it off, his favourite cloak was ruined.  
He nodded slightly and the idiotic one, Demyx, spoke “What happened after Zexion got us away from the pool Vincent?”  
Vincent struggled to sit upright, that’s when he noticed Axel.  
So he had finally come back, a day too late and now Vincent was hurt. He sighed and unclenched his jaw and said in his dark voice “After you left, Xemnas was furious. He tried to go after you but I held him off, we had a big fight over on the pavements. I must admit, after so many years locked away, he is strong.”

Xigbar snorted “He is like that because he caught me and the bloody bastard blooded me.”  
“I knew there was a reason” Vincent said. “That dog of his, Saix tried to attack again and landed a few good bites down my arm. That’s where the gauntlet smashed.” He tried not to look at the damage, “Xemnas used that against me and went for the hand as well. I shot him a few times and he disappeared after that, he won’t be back for a while. His mongrel is forever without an arm and he will suffer that particular pain as long as he lives.”

Zexion listened and looked to Vexen who said in his creepy, icy voice “We are going to have to get the gauntlet off, but you are a Master and we will respect your needs if you don’t want us near you.” Vincent shook his head, “It is alright, there is a way to get the gauntlet off.” 

The Master Silhouette shook his head, “There is a reason why I wear this, it is not a pretty sight so I advise, if you do not like severed or destroyed limbs, look away.”  
Nobody moved.

Vincent sighed and pulled is injured arm into his lap, with his other hand fiddled with something on top of the gauntlet. There was a hiss of air and slowly, segments of golden steel broke away and either fell away or remained embedded in the skin. The parts that did fall away revealed something horrifying.

Vincent sighed and spoke “My hand had been disfigured as punishment from the High Master, he has these shadow creatures, tiny they are and they eat anything away. He put them inside my arm and let them eat the entire limb away.”

“Like acid?” Roxas guessed.

Vincent made a soft noise of pain as he pulled the damaged segments away. He didn’t do it slowly, he done it fast. As the gold pieces fell away, everybody was able to see Vincent’s disfigured arm and hand.  
It seemed permanently charcoaled, black blood had swollen up into dark blisters. Skin hung off in tatters and muscles convulsed and twitched in the sudden air. His fingers were just bones; it looked like the skin had been cooked onto his fingers. Yellow/green mucus oozed from the forever wounds and Vincent murmured “He held me there, watched me suffer in pain, because he deemed it fit as my punishment. As the shadows dropped off and died, I left with a ruined arm. I can’t move it; the muscles are destroyed so that is why I wear the gauntlet.”

Roxas gagged and hid his face in Axel’s sleeve. The Pyro looked away from the ungodly sight before him and Demyx whimpered, “Why don’t we just die, we are going to be killed anyway, so why leave the burden to Xemnas? Let’s make it easy!”

“That’s giving up Demyx” Zexion retorted, “We will not give Xemnas or anybody that pleasure, we are just like them, we haven’t done anything wrong to deserve punishment.”  
Vexen inspected the wounds and said to Vincent, “Had you tried to heal it?”  
The Master nodded, “No amount of magic would work, the other Master, she sympathised with me but nothing in our area could heal it. Those creatures defy any old magic.”

“How about simple remedies” Zexion guessed hooking his finger on his chin. Vincent looked at the Schemer then Zexion looked to Demyx. “He is a Water Mage; water is the best healing agent. Demyx can do all sorts of things with his water.”  
Demyx bit his lip and glanced down at the destroyed arm. “I can’t heal that completely, but I can fix the muscle damage and regain some layers that can be at least called skin.”  
Demyx looked towards his fountain then nodded, “Yeah, I can try to help.”

Vincent staggered to his feet and Zexion started to pick up the pieces of the gauntlet. “We are here to help Vincent, just as you are here to help us.” He looked to Xigbar and the older Silhouette barked “Alright you feral’s back inside, Roxas, Axel, feral’s apply to you two as well.” 

Roxas whined and stood to his feet and Axel chuckled “You can do your part later Roxas.” Everybody complained in some way but they obeyed Xigbar. Zexion looked up and saw Luxord brandish two cards and he made a mental note. Luxord uses Tarot cards and all his cards held a significant meaning in situations like this.

Zexion saw the Hanged Man and Death.

The Hanged Man meant _‘Traitor’._  
Death had two meanings, one was obvious but the other could mean rebirth, something new.

Luxord turned away and followed Xigbar and Demyx broke away and went to the fountain. This left Zexion with Vincent.  
“You won’t kill us will you?” he asked and the Master said in a monotonous voice; “ultimately it is not up to me, I will try my hardest to save you all.”  
“Liar.”

Zexion knew Vincent was staring off after Axel and Roxas. The Master wanted them, to hell if he wanted to help any of the others. He only said that.

_Traitor_


	23. To Plan and Act

“He isn’t just here for Xemnas you know!” Axel murmured when he and Roxas walked towards the front door. They had separated from the rest of the Silhouettes and the humans and Axel voiced his thoughts “After this is done, do you think he will take us away?”

Roxas felt alarm pierce him, “Vincent wouldn’t take me away from my family, besides I’m not a Silhouette.” He folded his arms across his chest and Axel stood straighter and gestured out his hand “You are a human that can go to the ‘In Between’ Roxas, humans can’t do that.”

The blonde countered, “I can only go there, I can’t open a portal in either realm, so I’m pretty much useless. I’m only human.”  
Axel went silent and said no more.  
Roxas grew concerned as they climbed up onto the porch. “Axel?” he questioned, “What’s the matter.” His attention was focused on the Silhouette entirely and he didn’t see that the front door was shut.

As they walked Axel simply walked through the door, Roxas wasn’t so lucky. He smacked face first into the door and his nose bent painfully.  
“Axel you jerk!”

…

Sora stopped on the lawn and Olette stopped beside him. The Silhouettes ignored them as they walked towards the house. “Sora?” Olette asked softly “Something bothering you?”  
Sora ran his fingers through his hair in an agitated way and replied, “Everything is bothering me. We are supposed to brace ourselves against a massive Supernatural attack with no defense; we can’t hide behind the Spirits or the Silhouettes.” 

He dropped his hands “We shouldn’t be dealing with this; I want to live a normal life, be a _normal teenager._ I don’t want to be killed; I don’t want my family killed.”  
He sighed and glanced around the terrace, his words seemed to always fall on deaf ears, had anyone **ever** listened to him throughout this entire ordeal?

His eyes fell on the young Silhouette Demyx who was leaning his head into the water of the fountain. He was saying something and the water suddenly began to glow. The water began to ripple and Demyx lifted his head and gestured to Zexion and the Master Silhouette Vincent.

Zexion was clearly upset with something, his face gaunt and dark. He walked with Vincent to the fountain then Olette whispered, “You’re the only one that seems negative against this, if Xemnas is gone, everyone will be free and happy.”  
The two walked to the house and Olette continued to speak “There’s only one Xemnas, there’s ten Silhouettes and there’s seven Spirits.”

Sora wasn’t convinced so he countered, “The Silhouettes weren’t able to beat Saix, he is normal like the rest of them and they all **failed** so Xemnas is ten times stronger, we’re all doomed.”  
Olette sighed “Dilly Dally Shilly Shally.”

Sora gave her a confused look “Huh?” the girl beside him gave him a light smile “You’re letting negative feelings get in the way, where’s the Sora that’s always smiling and so happy? I bet even Roxas could beat you in a happy contest.”

Sora scowled “Olette, it’s _dangerous._ My family could get hurt and even killed in this and you’re here telling me that my mopey, depressed brother is happier than me!?”  
Sora opened the door and stepped inside when he felt a rush of cool air envelop him. Naminé stood there looking happier than Sora had ever seen her.   
“In such dire situations like this, I can’t help but smile, I have my sister back and the Spirits and the Silhouettes are finally working together, a hundred years were spent fighting each other when we could have fought Xemnas and Saix instead” she beamed.

Sora smiled brightly at his ghostly friend and Olette almost spat, “But would you fight Naminé?” the girls eyes went a little dark and she twirled a strand of long blonde hair around her finger, “Well, I would, I could try - I mean. I can’t let the others do the work, so well-” she stopped her nervous stutter before she glared at Olette who was staring at her balefully. 

“Why are you bossing me around? You start going out with Sora then think you can come here and boss all of us around. Oh, I don’t think so; you have no influence over Sora or us. We are our own free soul” she countered defensively.

Naminé was livid and Olette was slightly taken aback, Sora had said that Naminé was friendly and kind. She didn’t know what to do or think the Spirits and the Silhouettes despised her.   
Hell, she didn’t like that in the slightest. A sudden surge of anger ripped through the brunette girl and she declared angrily “What makes you think you are superior to me? You are a hundred and seventeen whatever old ghost that has been stuck in the ruins of a Psychiatric Hospital, too scared to venture out the front door!”

Sora was horrified “Olette, don’t speak to Naminé that way.” He pulled on Olette’s arm but she yanked it away as Naminé shrieked, “You have no clue what I have endured or anybody else in this house, you don’t know my pain. I knew I should have kept a greater distance, the others were wise and done so.”

“Naminé” Sora started to beg, “Please don’t fight, Nami please don’t get angry.”

“You just want everybody to feel sorry for you” Olette doubled “You blink those big blue eyes and everybody falls over another.” She clapped her hands together “Oh everyone, I’m so depressed I blink my eyes and everyone will feel sorry for me- **boo hoo** \- _get over it.”_  
That hit it.

Naminé shrieked **“Bitch!** That’s all you are.” Her hair billowed out behind her and she ran at Olette. At first, she simply ran through her, but she had been touched by a Spirit. Olette gasped and she went a slight shade of blue. 

Naminé spun around, she ran back at the brunette haired girl and knocked her clear off her feet and began to pound the others girls back with her light, frail fists. **“How dare you”** she spoke in an eerie double supernatural voice, **“You can’t say that. All you wanted to do was to get to Sora and come here, don’t deny it. I knew I recognised your snooping little face. Now all you did was get in the way of Sora and Riku.”**

“Naminé” Sora cried “Come there is no need to get upset, simply ignore what is being said.”  
He put his hands on Naminé’s shoulders but he wasn’t able to pull the furious blonde off. There was another rush of cool air and Riku appeared from the fog and knelt down beside Riku and demanded “Come on Nami, get off the human, she isn’t worth it.”   
Riku got the infuriated blonde off Olette and Sora mouthed a relieved ‘thank you’ to Riku. He got a slight smile in response.

“Ooh, we missed the bitch fight” snarked a dark voice and Sora saw the Silhouettes Xigbar and Luxord standing there smirking.  
Then there was a rumble of footsteps down the stairs and Aerith came down, Roxas on her heels.

“Oh my goodness” Aerith gasped “What on earth happened?” she helped Olette up, eying Riku, Naminé and Sora wearily, she looked to Sora “You didn’t start a fight did you?” she asked hesitantly.  
“Mum please!” Sora shook his head desperately.

“No” Naminé suddenly shrieked, “She mocked us about being trapped in the house and how I act like the sook to get everybody to feel sorry for me.” Her eyes were sparking with anger “She doesn’t know our constant pain.”  
Xigbar shifted from beside Luxord and said, “Ha! No idea at all girl, live through our pain then come back and mock us.”

Aerith looked around nervously, Roxas said “Think before you say anything” he shot a look directly to Olette, “Your lucky it was a Spirit, say that to a Silhouette and they would have pulled your tongue out.”

Xigbar chuckled wryly “That’s something Demyx would do, the rest of us would go beyond pulling tongues out.” Luxord agreed, “Disgusting.” Xigbar winked nastily to Olette who partially hid behind Aerith, Riku broke the tension with his calm voice.

“It was a simple misunderstanding, come now we are scaring everyone now.” He gestured to Aerith and Olette and Naminé said dolefully “Next time I won’t be so lenient.”   
Riku led her away and Xigbar called after them “Go for the throat next time Angel.”  
He looked to Luxord “Let’s get out of this place and find something to do.” The Silhouettes vanished along with the Spirits and Olette rounded on Sora angrily “Why didn’t you stop her?”

Sora frowned and held out his hands uselessly “You started it Olette; you know they all get upset easily.”  
“Pfft, tell me about it” Roxas stated quietly.

Sora sighed “I have never seen Naminé erupt the way she did, Olette, I did warn you.” Olette put her hands on her hips then demanded, “What was she going on about getting in the way of you and Riku?”

Roxas smirked from behind Aerith and Sora mentally cursed, _why did she have to bring that up?_ He shot a menacing glare to his younger brother then muttered to Olette, “There’s nothing to be worried about, don’t get jealous over nothing.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing” Olette retorted folding her arms defiantly now. “You better not be lying to me Sora.” Her stern green glare settled on Roxas who tried to drop his smile and look serious but failed. He said trying not to laugh, “Why do you look at me for? I’m not a third wheel in your messed up relationship.”

His eyes sparkled with mirth and Olette demanded, “I bet you’re on this damned charade too…what haven’t you or your little Silhouette Demons told me?”  
“Not telling” Roxas almost sang, “Why would we tell you for?”

He was just being a bastard now and Sora went to grab him but the smartass blonde went back behind Aerith gripping the back of her shirt with his hands like a child and poked his tongue out.  
“Roxas, Sora come on guys, you aren’t three” Aerith sighed. She looked to Olette who still looked devious “You might have to go home dear; I have certain things to discuss with my boys.”

Olette clenched her jaw together and she looked like she was about to cry. She nodded her head briskly and checked if her phone was in her pocket and she made her way to the front door. “Cya Olette” Sora mumbled and Roxas waved happily, “Bye Olette.” The door slammed shut in response.

“Trouble in paradise?” Roxas smirked “Never knew she could be such a bitch.” Sora growled and then lunged at his younger brother, “If you weren’t such a bastard-” he didn’t get to finish, he didn’t get to hit his brother either. Sora’s clenched fist was caught in the hand of Axel.

The Silhouette didn’t look amused and he pushed Sora away. Roxas snickered “Axel’s back now, remember?”  
Sora stepped back and Axel stood beside Roxas “You have to tell girly to keep her nose out of our business, I saw what happened. Never knew Blondie junior had it in her.” Now it was Roxas’ turn to scowl, “My warning is still clear, she was all over Axel, Sora you are supposed to be the one going out with her!”

Axel pulled a face “No thank you, I’m good.”  
Though he didn’t look at Roxas, the blonde found himself blushing anyway. 

Aerith folded her arms and scolded “You boys should know better, Olette is a lovely girl and you tease her.” She shot that ‘look’ to Roxas who instantly complained, “But Mum, she bought it upon herself. If she offended any of my friends I would have defended them”  
“I can defend myself” Axel implied with a pout on his face.  
Roxas sighed and corrected himself, “If she teased the most vulnerable Silhouette, Demyx, I would defend him.”  
Axel chuckled “Don’t let him hear that or he will cry.”

Sora frowned “I didn’t expect her to attack Naminé, of all Spirits it had to be the one with the connections to the Silhouettes.” He shot a pleading look to his mother “Mum don’t blame me, I had no part in it.”

“Exactly” Axel cut in and Roxas said “Axel, shut up.”

Aerith pointed to Roxas to send him a warning to be quiet and she said to Sora, “Are you just leading Olette on Sora?” The brunette brother was taken aback, “I have done everything I can for Olette, I even allowed her to come into the house and meet the Spirits. She asked me out and it started from there.”

“Oh so she wears the pants in the relationship?” Roxas asked with a devilish grin on his face and Aerith spun around and almost shouted, “Roxas, we are talking. Do not interrupt with childish comments.”

Roxas shut his mouth and walked to the kitchen instead. He pulled open the fridge and rummaged around to make himself something to eat. So, with him temporarily out of the equation Sora looked up to Aerith with guilty eyes, “I do like her Mum, but she forced herself on me. I didn’t want to hurt her so I went along with it. But now-.” He didn’t have the heart to finish the sentence because it would have worried Aerith. 

_‘But now we are preparing for a fight and there’s a chance we could all get killed.’_

“Don’t hurt the poor girl’s feelings Sora, but I can’t tell you how to have a relationship either. It’s your choice sweetheart.” She stepped forward and embraced her son gently, “Your eighteen Sora, you’re nearly nineteen. Almost finished school and then you can do whatever you want, if Olette doesn’t accept what you want well-it’s your choice.”

Roxas shut the fridge with his elbow with a plate of cake in one hand, a can of coke in the other and a packet of chocolate biscuits hanging from his mouth. He gave them a small smile and went to say something but couldn’t.

Axel rolled his eyes, went over, and relieved Roxas of his biscuit mouth. “When I’m old enough I’m going far away, I don’t want to be stuck here forever.” Aerith sighed at her son, her green eyes sad.

But Sora looked at Axel; the Silhouette instantly looked guilty and worried when Roxas said he wanted to get older. He scratched the back of his neck and Sora kept that in mind to confront that red head bastard about this situation. An Immortal cannot be with a mortal forever.

*****

“They think they can hide forever? Think they can hide behind that blasted Master Vincent, don’t they have that wrong. I’m going to attack what they all hold the dearest.”

Through the blackness of the underground tunnels of Station Heights, a long cloaked hand shot out and grabbed another figure to him.   
“Fail me one more time Saix and I will torture you in the most painful of ways, that degenerative gunshot wound would be the least of your worries.”

There was a small whimper in response “I have been trying, but they all know that you want either Axel or Roxas. They are well protected; it wasn’t my fault that they got away from you at the pool.”

There was a loud bang in response, the dark figure struck the wall with a trembling force and slumped to the floor, a large shadow loomed above him. “Dare defy me or talk back to me again Saix and I will take away your control and you can become that wretched dog again.”

“I won’t talk or defy you again Master” the quiet voice spoke and long silver hair came into the low light.  
Xemnas stalked down the pipe, “First things first, if we are to get that blonde brat we need to eliminate his so-called friends. That Magician and that little sook the Water Mage and Axel, They could be the easiest to separate, but with that Vincent looming around he could be the danger.”

“What do you want me to do then Master?” Saix spoke with his eyes averted and Xemnas said, “Divert Vincent. I know his goal is to take Axel and the blonde imbecile, destroying my chance of getting to the ‘In Between’. There are only three travelers and they are all in my reach.”

Xemnas turned to Saix “the full moon is in four days’ time, your powers will be magnified by three times. Giving you the strength advantage over that Master, We will attack when the moon is high. Separate the Master from the Silhouettes and lead him away. I will get into that house and take that blonde by force, if things do not go my way I have suitable threats to get Axel to comply to my wishes. This time he won’t walk away alive.”

*****

**Vincent walked into the trees leaving the Silhouettes Demyx and Zexion sitting on the fountain. His arm was somewhat better. Having botched skin over his centuries old wounds were comfort now. Now his gauntlet was ruined and Vincent needed a new one.**

**Darting further and further into the forest Vincent halted and made sure he was a good distance away from the house. He was being summoned; he knew he had to comply before he was punished.**

**Sweeping his long red cloak out behind him Vincent used his good arm to open up a portal to the In Between. He used the magical dimension as methods of travelling, since he had not found himself a Reaper, Vincent never bothered abiding the rules to help others while in the dimension. Leave that up to Axel and Roxas.  
The thin transparent veil knitted shut behind him and Vincent looked up to the vast blackness above him. He started to walk, a golden dust trailed from his cloak and the area around him started to shift and change.**

**There were flashes of red, black and gold and the large Sun set, a moon erupted from the black horizon. Small shadows darted away from the Master Silhouette and Vincent was reminded of the long years he had spent in this dimension searching for Silhouettes and immortals that could travel to the In Between. After a fruitless search, Vincent found the traces of Xemnas and to make things better, he found Axel and Roxas as well. A Seeker and a Reaper. Wouldn’t the Master be pleased?**

**Vincent tried not to think what would happen when the entire house of Silhouettes would be bought to the wrath of the Master. He would torture them for any information; the youngster Demyx wouldn’t handle it.**   
**He would die along with the Master Magician.**

**Zexion was suspicious about Vincent but he remained inconspicuous. Not letting Zexion find out the whole truth. The only ones that would be spared would be Axel and Roxas. **Forced to work under the icy cold grip of the Leader.**   
**Vincent would lead them all to their doomed demise.****

****When the horizon cleared to what Vincent wanted he dragged his hands through the glittering veils of the ‘In Between’ and they parted easily under his long fingers. He emerged from the mass of glitter and stood outside a large, gothic building.**   
**It was made back in the 1700’s and was rival to the best cathedrals in the human world. It was made from the slave labour of older, long dead Silhouettes; it held that eerie haunted charm.** **

****A gust of wind hit Vincent as he walked up the large black marble steps to the large mahogany doors. They opened instantly and Vincent swept him putting up his aura of power and holding himself like the Master Silhouette he was. His cloak blew out behind him and he heard the small, frightened voices of the Silhouettes that lived in the castle, “Greetings Master Vincent, hope your travels are going well.”**   
**Vincent ignored them, he always told himself not to get involved with the life of others except his own. Just because he was, a Master didn’t mean he was spared from the Leaders angry wrath.** **

****Vincent made his way into a large painted hall, his boots clicking and thumping at every footfall. This room was far more spectacular than the very Sistine Chapel itself. Vincent had gone there through his many travels and found it hardly held a candle to the masterpiece the Leader had demanded.** **

****The roof of the room depicted the lives of Silhouettes, living in harmony with each other and hidden in the safety of darkness. They were the supernatural of the night and this was shown, then at the top showed the three Masters.**   
**Let’s just say, Vincent hated looking at himself on the roof.** **

****The throne room was silent and dark, Vincent was able to see the shadows at the front. He reached the first step and stood there, he dare not bow.**   
**“Mind telling us where you have been Vincent?” a smooth female voice came out, “found anything interesting other than the discovery of Xemnas?”** **

****Vincent didn’t reply and it was then a low, monotonous voice came out “You have become careless Vincent, I have made the heathens soul mortal, why are you taking so long to kill him?”** **

****Vincent didn’t know how to reply before he said in a short clipped voice “He is proving to be elusive and with another-?”**  
 **“Wait another?” the female voice rang out through the silent hall, “Do you tell us that there are more Silhouettes under the hand of Xemnas? Why did you not inform us?”** **

****“It seems that Vincent has more on his mind than killing Xemnas” the cold male voice said. “How many are there Vincent?”**   
**Vincent didn’t reply until an intense pain filled him and he dropped to his knees. He replied in a soft voice “There are eleven Silhouettes and seven Spirits, attempts that were made to become one of us but failed.”****

****“That many?” the female inquired and Vincent nodded “They have proven to be an intelligent, gifted-.”**   
**He didn’t get to finish when the male voice interrupted in a mad, careless voice “They were made illegally, they need to be disposed you know of the rules and the consequences Vincent, or have you gone soft against your obligations and the purity of our people?”** **

****Vincent staggered back to his feet and countered almost defiantly “They are pure; they have existed for over a century. We could learn something from them.”**   
**“Nonsense” the male voice spat, “In your carelessness Vincent, did you realise that Xemnas is planning an attack?”** **

****Vincent was slightly surprised “I had not heard of that, there was an attack recently he has a target.”**   
**“He plans to attack in four days, it’s a full moon so may I enquire why I received this whilst monitoring him?”**  
 **Vincent could only reply with a short answer, “He has a Berserker.”**  
 **The female voice sighed, “How on earth did he manage to get one of those? They aren’t common around the Supernatural dimension, what animal is it?”**  
 **Another clipped answer “Mongrel, a dog.”****

****There was a flurry of cloaks and the gleam of steel implied that the leader wasn’t happy, “That implies something of that a werewolf Vincent, full moon means greater strength, they have included you in the equation. What is it that you PROTECT?”** **

****There was a clang of steel against the marble tiles and the definite sound of a sword being pulled around and Vincent knew he couldn’t lie no further, “Xemnas had in his possession a Seeker of the ‘In Between’ now very recently there has been a human in this predicament and he is a Reaper.”** **

****This was followed by silence before the female spoke “Well you know that this human can’t be allowed to live unless he is brought into our Race. They could be valuable assets to our dwindling numbers.”**   
**There was a longer reply from the Leader but he spoke with a deathly calm voice, “I do not care about the other tainted souls but I want those Travellers, Vincent you will bring them to me and make sure that human does not possess a mortal soul.”** **


	24. Four Days

**4 Days Left**

The music hit Roxas’ ears first; drawn out of his sleepy state he was able to hear the music playing but couldn’t decipher the words.   
He hid his head back under the quilts until he started to wake up and he was able to make the words out of the song, 

Roxas gasped from under his nice comfortable blankets his cheeks turning a shade of pink. He bolted upright and saw Larxene smirking from beside his docking station with her arms folded across her chest. “You have such sappy love music on here Roxas, it enough to make my teeth rot.”

Blushing Roxas admitted, “My Ipod is synced with my Dad’s computer, I don’t check the music outside my play lists.”   
He scrambled up to shut the music off and Larxene snickered, “It does remind me of you and Axel, does all your music either describe your life or us in some way?” she didn’t wait for an answer, instead she pirouetted around the room and stood in the centre. 

She smiled almost nastily to Roxas who finally looked at the time. 6:45 am. Time to get up when Roxas flung his legs over the side of the bed he remembered that it was Monday. 

“Shiiitt” he groaned flopping back “I don’t wanna go to school today.”  
“Pfft you don’t need school” Larxene retorted and she was followed by the bright bubbly voice of Demyx, “You don’t have to go you know Roxas, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“Demyx, do not deprive the child of his education” Zexion was heard and then last of all,   
“Why the hell are all of you in my room?”  
Axel

Roxas looked up and the three invading Silhouettes turned to the red head that had a frown starting to form. Demyx stated happily “Poor little Roxy doesn’t want to go to school today.”

Axel rolled his eyes “Doesn’t do anything for you.” He swept over to the bed, “If we get you out of school, do you promise that we can do something?”   
Roxas smirked, he knew that Axel was hinting to do something better, after the whole spaz with Olette the day before, Roxas had locked himself in his room listening to music and reading books.

Axel couldn’t decipher words so he opted to complaining and screwing around with Roxas’ Ipod.  
He nodded, “Sure Axel.” He got a cocky, winning smile from the red head and Demyx cheered, “Goody, can I come too?” he got a scowl and Axel retorted, “You are such a deadbeat Demyx, I want to do something with Roxas for once and you _persist_ in tagging along.”

Demyx shrugged “Its fun but, I like leaving the house.”  
“I do not,” Zexion snapped coldly  
Demyx pouted “but it’s better to leave the house, it can be a different experience.” Zexion counted easily “Yeah look what happened at the pool Demyx!” 

There wasn’t a response as Demyx simply looked to his feet and Zexion had won the argument. He folded his arms across his chest and Larxene sniffed “I’d leave the house once it’s completely safe, or if the house got knocked down.” She grinned toothily to Roxas who rubbed his face and got to his feet, “What is a way to get out of school?”   
Larxene scoffed “The good ‘ol sickie charade.”  
Roxas shook his head “Doesn’t work with Mum, she will see right through me.” He shook his head “Why am I even asking?”

He strode to his cupboard and opened the door, he faltered slightly when he heard Demyx “I have a genius way you know Roxas, it will work every time.”

Roxas turned around and quirked an eyebrow “how would you do that Dem-?”  
Roxas didn’t get to finish and his eyes widened in surprise. Demyx had swept over to him, closed the millimeters between their faces, and connected his lips to Roxas’.

There was a cry of outrage by Axel and Zexion looked equally as horrified.  
Roxas quickly went white and collapsed in a heap on the floor and Axel swayed then followed suit. There were two equal thuds and Larxene shrieked “Demyx what the hell did you do?”

Demyx picked Roxas up bridal style and explained quite innocently, “I drained the water from him, he is unconscious but it’s nothing I can’t fix.” Larxene was steely “If you won’t die over killing Roxas, Axel will destroy you for kissing him in the first place.”  
Demyx frowned _“I did not kiss him”_

“Seemed like it to me” Zexion retorted and Demyx shot back “Never thought you were capable of conveying feelings Zexion.” He placed Roxas on the bed and then the door opened slightly, “Roxas come on dear. You need to get ready for school.”  
Aerith came into the bedroom and all Silhouettes vanished instantaneously leaving Axel a heap of black and red on the floorboards. 

She gasped when she saw Roxas lying on the bed white as a sheet and she rushed over and fell to her knees. She felt her son’s forehead and swept his hair back exclaiming worriedly “Roxas, dear God. Come on honey wake up for me.”  
She sent a brief fluttering glance to the pile of Axel and turned back to Roxas shaking his shoulders. “Get up Roxas, get up.”   
She started to grow panicky and she shrieked “Sora!” 

There was a tumble of footsteps and Sora appeared in the doorway, saw Roxas on the bed and Axel on the floor and exclaimed in shock, “What the hell happened?” He rushed over and shook Roxas’ shoulders vigorously. The blonde’s head lolled around and Sora dropped his brother, went over to Axel, and nudged the warm body with the toes of his feet. “Get up Axel!”  
He didn’t get an answer.

**“Get out there and fix them”**   
**“I’m not going out there with the humans; you go out there and explain everything for me, pleaaseee Zexy.”**   
**“No you bought this upon yourself, get out there and wake Roxas up.”**   
**“Ha you guys are officially screwed.”**

Sora frowned when he heard voices from the closet and he stalked over, pulled open the doors and saw Demyx, Zexion and Larxene.   
They all stared at him as they were deer’s caught in the headlights, Sora exclaimed, “What are you guys whispering about in there? What did you guys do to Axel and Roxas?”

“It was Demyx’s fault” Larxene threw the blame right at the Water Mage and Demyx complained, “No it _wasn’t.”_

“Demyx!” Sora warned “I swear if you done anything to my little brother.” He folded his arms across his chest and Demyx stammered, “You don’t dare speak to a Silhouette like that, o-or I will pull out your tongue.”

“Very serious threat there Dem” Larxene retorted in a bored tone, she pushed Demyx and Zexion to the sides of her and emerged from the closet and waved to Aerith, “I don’t think you wanna know what happened, let Roxas intervene with you on that one.”  
She smirked widely, she strode over to the window and exclaimed, “Oh, Marly is out in the garden, I’m going to go say hello.”  
At that, she left.

“Bitch” Demyx murmured and Zexion pushed his way out of the closet just as Roxas sputtered awake.

“Oh thank goodness” Aerith whispered leaning her forehead against Roxas’ arm and the blonde son whispered, “I don’t feel so well Mum.” Aerith felt his forehead with a worried glance and said, “You look like death warmed up honey.”

Roxas sat up and out of his peripheral vision saw Axel get to his feet. The Pyro Silhouette looked pissed, he got to his feet, His face was gaunt and white and pitch-black lines ran down his cheeks. His eyes were black and he growled, “Fuck you Demyx, I will _kill_ you.”

He leapt forward with a savage snarl and hit Demyx fair in the nose. There was a sickening crunch and Demyx cried out in pain. Zexion grew fierce in a moment, “Axel” he snapped, _“How dare you.”_  
There was a flurry of shadows and there was a burst of blue. Axel roared in anger and Demyx howled in pain.  
Aerith shrieked in terror and Sora ran towards his mother and said “Don’t go near them Mum.”

Roxas grew panicked and he stumbled off the bed and hobbled to the fighting Silhouettes. “Roxas!” Sora yelled, “Are you nuts?”  
There was a wave of intense flames that swept right past Roxas who then stamped his foot and shouted in his best angry voice.  
“STOP IT, you are fighting in my bedroom, for fucks sake STOP IT.”   
He threw himself at Axel, wrapped his arms around the Pyro’s waist and squeezed, as his limited strength would allow. Axel stopped in his angry assault and the minute he looked down to Roxas, Zexion swept down to a bloody, wailing Demyx and pulled away his hand to inspect his nose.

Roxas looked up to Axel’s white and black face and whispered, “It’s alright, you didn’t have to react that way, its only Demyx.” Axel shook with rage “I can’t- _I can’t let him get away with it.”_ More black liquid spilled from his eyes and Roxas shook his head and leant his head against his chest “please don’t get angry Axel, do it for me.”

The shaking continued and Axel’s voice sounded strained “I-I can’t help it, Roxas, y-you belong to me, you’re _bonded_ to _me.”_  
“I am” Roxas whispered frantically, “Nothing will come between us Axel, there’s nothing to be worried about, I’m here-I’m here with you.”

The shaking began to subside and Axel started to go back to his normal temperature. When he stopped altogether, Roxas looked up and Axel was fighting with his eyes to go back to green.   
He was trying and Roxas smiled up at him gratefully, Axel went to hug Roxas back but the blonde instantly pulled away when he heard Aerith “Was I not informed?” Sora replied, “Yeah it sorta happened and we dealt with the shock later.”

Roxas was still swaying on his feet and Axel steadied him. Aerith was reluctant to go retrieve her son from the demon, saying a soft uncertain voice “He has to stay home; I don’t want this happening again.”   
She got up and pointed to her blonde son “Bed!”  
Roxas nodded and Sora snapped “Aww if he gets to stay home can I stay as well?”   
Aerith gave him the ‘look’ and went back to Roxas who sat on top of his bed. His face was still parch white and Demyx moaned from the corner, “I can make everything better; you didn’t have to hit me Axel.”

He rocked back and forth and Zexion said in a disapproving voice, “Axel cannot control his temper.” The Magician didn’t look at Axel and he stood Demyx up who shrugged his shoulders apologetically to Roxas.

The blonde smiled wearily to the young Silhouette and Sora snapped, “They done something so Roxas didn’t have to go to school; I’m the one that has to go to school and deal with a rampaging female.” His face dropped and Aerith said, “She deserves an apology Sora, Roxas however has to stay here so I can keep an eye on him.”

Sora rolled his eyes “He’s gunna vanish out that window the minute you take your eyes off him Mum.”  
He spun on his heels and walked out of the bedroom and Aerith felt Roxas’ forehead once more before saying, “Do you need anything Roxas?”  
Roxas was going to ask for a glass of water when he saw Demyx shaking his head over Aerith’s shoulder. “U-uh not-nothing Mum, I’m fine just need to get some rest I suppose,” Roxas stammered and his mother nodded her eyes concerned for her son.

The young boy slumped back on his pillows and Axel leant against the bedside table casually, he was waiting for Aerith to get out, as was everyone else.  
Finally, she got up and reluctantly left the room clicking the door shut behind her. In a blink of an eye, Demyx had scooted over to Roxas with a glass filled with water. 

Roxas saw that the glass was made of water but Demyx had solidified it. Water swept around in patterns around the glass and Roxas took it tentatively.  
“Don’t worry” Demyx said “It’s just water; it will make you feel better.”

Roxas nodded and took a sip of the water and he felt tremendously better. He swallowed the rest of the refreshing water and Demyx waved his hand.  
The glass fell away into water and Demyx manipulated it into a water sphere and then simply tossed it through the window.

Roxas got up from the pillow and felt the warmth rush back to his cheeks, he felt better than what he previously felt and Demyx beamed “It’s healing water from the fountain, it’s my specialty.”

He seemed proud of himself and Roxas smirked “I think you need it for yourself Demyx.” He gestured to Demyx’s black smeared face and awkward nose and Demyx scoffed sending Axel a disdainful stare “I’m a natural healer myself, so that will heal up in no time.”

Axel glared at Demyx and snapped “Well I will prefer it if you leave now Demyx, you fixed what you destroyed. Get out!”  
The Mage glared and Axel simply stared back and Roxas had to intervene “Guys, come on. Thanks Demyx for making me feel better.”   
“After he made you sick in the first place” Axel spat.  
“Hey it worked didn’t it” Demyx retorted.

Roxas sighed, “I’m fine, if you wanna see hurt I will toss myself over the balcony.” He got to his feet and Axel snapped “Don’t you dare think that Roxas.” The blonde smirked and saw Demyx vanishing through the bedroom door and that’s when Roxas growled at Axel, “Why do you treat the others like shit for? They are here to help, they respect you and you just go do that to them. Demyx and Zexion are my friends; I don’t like it when you fight with them.”

Axel rolled his eyes “If they only stay away, they never leave me alone and now, you!” Axel pushed away from the wall and his green eyes sparked mischievously “So you got your day off, wanna hit the town and do some damage?”  
Roxas snickered, “Sure.”

*****

_Xemnas pushed Saix up against the stone and hissed “The Master has disappeared, I told you to keep an eye on him.”_  
Saix fumbled for words “I cannot follow him to the ‘In Between’ Master, if I get to close he will sense me right away.”

_Xemnas growled, “Do you know what he will be doing at this very instant? Telling the other two Masters about us and the other blasted Silhouettes. I don’t care if the others are killed it’s just Axel and this imbecilic human.”_   
_He hit the wall with a blinding flash of red, “Now that bitch will follow Vincent and the Leader will not be long after that. I can’t hold off three Master’s. Vincent was always a soft one, he won’t kill the Silhouettes. He would want them to integrate into Silhouette society.”_

_Xemnas went silent for a moment and Saix whispered, “What are you thinking, Xemnas?”_   
_The silver haired Silhouette turned back to Saix, “If I could contaminate a Silhouette or a human, I could use them as a puppet.”_   
_He grinned wickedly to Saix “That human woman, the Mother. There is another life inside her. That will be perfect.”_

_Saix was confused and he withdrew when Xemnas spun around and began to walk down the tunnel. “That child could be my ultimate success; I could manipulate it even if I’m not around any longer in the future.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music that inspired this Chapter:
> 
> Mine- Taylor Swift


	25. Three Days

**3 Days Left**

Axel wandered down the dark cave watching the electric blue water running through the stone. He hadn’t touched the water since Roxas had dipped his hands in it that day. Axel had long grown sick of the vivid green water and decided that blue was a far better colour. 

He fell against the stonewall and ran a tired hand through his crimson locks. His chest felt like lead and his mind buzzed with tired thoughts and worries.   
The inevitable attack loomed on them. Axel could feel it, his nerves tingled and his instincts were making him anxious. His worries were on Roxas.   
What would happen to the poor boy?

Axel fought with himself. He couldn’t change Roxas into a Silhouette, he wasn’t powerful enough.   
If he stayed human, he was in trouble.  
Xemnas would kill him at any given chance.  
Once that bastard got into the ‘In Between’ he wouldn’t give a shit. He wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t have a reason to have Axel and Roxas.  
The ‘In Between’ will die, leaving the world’s last magical sanctuary to fall to ruin.

Axel groaned at the roar of noise in his head. So many thoughts, many of which Axel didn’t know could be true until it happened.

The day in Twilight Town the day before just made Axel realise how much he actually loved the boy. Ever since he had initiated the bond, he hadn’t been dealing very well with the emotions that came through it.   
Roxas was unhappy because Axel couldn’t control his temper, especially around the other Silhouettes. Axel couldn’t comprehend why Roxas liked them so much. Especially Zexion and Demyx, the two could annoy Axel but Roxas seemed to like having them around. Even to the extent to having the others around as well.   
Axel couldn’t deny Roxas associating himself with the Silhouettes; the blonde would scathe him till no tomorrow.

Axel pushed off the wall and wandered back over to the blue water that was rushing out of the cave.   
_“What can I do?”_ Axel asked himself hopelessly. _“How can I get Roxas away from this mess, how can I get **everyone** out of this?”_  
Never before in his long life had Axel felt this helpless. He didn’t have the slightest clue where to start and what to do. He knew the other Silhouettes could fight, they could fight very well. But all of them couldn’t even hold off Saix, Zexion and Demyx had only gotten away from Xemnas because that Master Silhouette. 

_That Master._  
Axel couldn’t trust that red-clad Silhouette as far as he could throw him. Everything about him screamed _‘traitor’._ Axel had not associated himself with the Master Vincent and gone to lengths to avoid him and keep Roxas away as well. 

Anger consumed Axel and letting out a roar of frustration, he sliced his hand through the blue water, which quickly lightened to the colour green. The cave went a vivid, luminous green and Axel heard a smooth dark voice say, “Don’t know what to do, Axel?”

The Pyro Silhouette spun around and saw Vincent sweep into the room, his long red cloak billowed out behind him and his face was dark with anger. Axel scowled “Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” He backed away from the Master and felt his own face draining of colour and the familiar sting of the black filling his face. 

Vincent paused before him and he said, “I know you have every reason to distrust me Axel, but you have to heed-.”  
“No” Axel interrupted “I _will_ not listen to what you have to say, you have come to kill the others” frustration flowed through him and a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind “You only want Roxas don’t you?” he whispered. 

Axel felt the flames dart up his arms and the now green cave went an eerie colour of red. He watched the Master critically, but the Silhouette made no inclination to move.  
Instead, he replied in a dark voice. “You know how easy it would be just to take Roxas; we will be rid of this mess. You won’t be here and the Masters will have their Reaper.”

His cloak swept out from the side, “But I won’t do that, Axel you have to listen to me.”

Axel’s anger overwhelmed him, “No; No, I _won’t_ listen to you, I avoided you for a goddamned reason. I was protecting Roxas.” 

Flames roared to life around Axel, he drew his arms up and the flames rose higher and circled around Vincent.  
He didn’t flinch; he simply stood there with an unfathomable look on his face.

Axel made the flames go higher then drew back abruptly when there was a click. A large black gun emerged from the flames and the smooth voice of Vincent said darkly.

“One hit from this will leave you without a limb or a gaping hole in your chest, it will be wise to heed me out and listen to what I have to say.” In the changing light of the flames, the gun reflected eerily and Axel knew he couldn’t mess around, even if this meant dealing with Roxas being taken away.

Axel let the flames dissipate and rings of savage fire no longer surrounded Vincent. The Master had no expression on his face, keeping it perfectly blank and he kept his gun rigidly in place. 

Ready to shoot  
“Are you ready to listen Axel?” Vincent declared and feeling helpless, Axel could only nod. He looked to his feet and Vincent barked, “Is there something you need to say?”

“I can’t let you kill my friends!” Axel shouted out, “I know I treat them like shit, but they’re all I have!”

He gave a nervous glance to the gun and Vincent said darkly “I have been given orders to obliterate all the illegal Silhouettes, but I will not do that. What the first Master doesn’t know will not hurt him.”

Axel gave Vincent a weary glance, “I don’t believe you.”

Vincent nodded once “I am aware of that but just listen. I believe in fair treatment, Silhouettes are dying out and the more we find is a blessing. We are finding less and less Silhouettes, because we don’t have-”

“You don’t have traveller’s to the In Between” Axel finished; he looked back to Vincent “You need a Seeker and a Reaper to bring more Silhouettes into the world?”

His question was confirmed with a simple nod and Vincent added with a slight grimace “You and the others, you are the first Silhouettes to be made the way you did. It was incredibly cruel and painful. Xemnas grew selfish and incredibly idiotic, hence his downfall.”

Vincent lowered his gun and let it drop onto the stone ground at his feet and he gazed directly at Axel. “I will not destroy the Silhouettes that reside here; my goal is to rid the immortal world of Xemnas. Then you Silhouettes will be free.”

Axel frowned “So you want to free the Silhouettes, then what will happen to the Spirits on the other side, like Naminé?”

Vincent stooped down and grabbed his gun, he stood straight and spun around with these words, “Simple, they will move on.”

*****

Sora had been sleeping like crap, for the zillionth time he opened his eyes and found himself no longer comfortable in the spot he had moved to. Sleep eluded him and the older Strife brother found his mind infested with many troubling thoughts.

Just as he was about to roll over and grumble he heard voices in his room. Instantly he recognised the voices of Kairi and Naminé.

“Do you think he is asleep yet, he hasn’t moved in quite a while now?”  
“He’s been troubled all night, but it seems like he has settled down now.”

About a minute later Sora felt his heart beat unevenly in his chest when he heard Riku’s voice: 

“Alright has he settled yet? We can’t risk him over hearing this, it will upset him.”  
There was a soft confirming noise that Sora guessed was Naminé and Kairi asked in a wavering voice, “So tell us what’s going to happen Riku?”

There was a sigh, “When Xemnas and Saix attack we have to be on our best guard, we can be pulverised if they get hold of us. But we know who their main targets are going to be?”

“It will be Axel and Roxas” came Kairi’s voice

“Exactly” Riku confirmed “We can only hope that Master Silhouette will fight alongside us, we will have a huge upper hand. So what from I have observed, this Master has attacked Saix, his arm is severely disabled from the attack and the infection he has gotten is spreading up his arm. He has lost all use from this arm.”

“So Saix is down for the count,” Kairi asked, “But that doesn’t mean he can’t fight, we will still have to be careful.” Her voice sounded lighter “I have a good feeling about this.”

“Riku?” 

The voice was quiet and sounded torn, “I don’t want this to happen, do you know what will happen if Xemnas is killed?”

Sora felt his mind sharpen and his ears pricked, he needed to find out what Riku would say. Naminé sounded fairly upset.

Riku sighed, “Unfortunately I do know what will happen, once Xemnas is killed his hold on us will relinquish. That’s the part I don’t want to tell Sora.”

Kairi sighed, “Xemnas is the one keeping us here.”

“No!” Naminé’s soft cry sounded so sad and frantic. “We can’t, I am speaking to my sister again, we have a chance to befriend Roxas and the Silhouettes. I have waited _over a hundred years for this.”_

“I really don’t want to suffer any longer Nami, this place is absolute hell but I do see your point, we have made friends and Sora is a wonderful person. We can’t simply abandon him.” There was a soft cry and the voice that belonged to Kairi made a soft ‘tsk’ sound.

Riku spoke again, “I know its unfair Naminé, but heed us out. We have suffered for centuries, a couple of months with a family can’t eclipse our torture and hurt. Roxas will deal with this problem as well. His Silhouettes will leave, they won’t die but they will leave.”

Naminé’s short sob died and her voice was brusque, “So when Xemnas is killed, we have no choice but to die as well?” another cry was heard, “It’s unfair Riku, I love this family, I love my sister, I don’t want to die.”

The Spirits stopped talking and Sora simply lay there and let a tear slide down his face.

*****

Axel slid down the stairs in the darkness seeking out the others. His sharp green eyes sought out Demyx who was wandering to the front door.   
“Demyx” Axel hissed and the young Water Mage spun around with a sad looking face. Axel slunk down to him and before he could speak Demyx said in a hopeless voice, “What are we going to do Axel?”

Axel frowned at him puzzled, “What do you mean Dem?”

Demyx ran his fingers through his spiky blonde hair; his large oceanic eyes were troubled. “I was just thinking, after this huge fight, what will happen to us? Some of us could get killed.”  
His lip began to wobble, “I have grown attached to all the Silhouettes, to this family Axel. What happens if something bad happens?”

Axel stepped closer and tried to reassure him, “It won’t happen Demyx, I’m not a negative prick like Zexion. We have Vincent on our side and I will protect everyone. I hate to admit it, but I have grown on you guys as well.”

Demyx gave him a small smile and tears slid down his face, “I told you from the very first minute Zex and I would eventually grow on you, come on we’re friends Axel.”  
Axel smirked at him, “come on Dem, you’re acting like it’s your last day on earth.”

Then without much notice, Demyx strode forward and gave Axel a tight hug.  
“You never know Axel, you will never know.”

*****

Roxas slammed his head against the desk and let out a long groan.

“It’s only third period,” he grumbled. He turned his head to the side and saw the kid beside him give him a sympathetic nod and the blonde had to inwardly smirk to himself. He wasn’t talking to him.

“Oh so you don’t acknowledge my suffering” Axel retorted, “They say you need to learn this shit at school, but you never use it when you’re grown up.”  
Axel strode down the aisle of desks with a bored expression on his face and flicked a student’s pen off the desk.

He stopped at Roxas’ desk and gazed at the open textbook, “Blah history? Next!”  
The Silhouette closed to book then opened it back up. He gazed down at the page “Mythology? Now this sounds slightly more bearable.”  
He slid his finger down the page and smirked “Werewolves? Ha people thought they were real back when I was alive.”  
He flicked to the werewolf page and skimmed down it, “Changes at full moon, blah, turns into a more common form of a wolf or humanoid dog.” Axel chuckled “Ridiculous, old texts state-.”

Axel suddenly shut up and his face went stony and serious. The change in attitude was instantaneous and Axel read down the page. 

_“I thought you couldn’t read, wasn’t I wrong,”_ Roxas thought jokingly but the Silhouette didn’t take the light humour.   
The air got warmer and Axel’s face paled. He looked up to Roxas and he whispered, “I have to go, I might see you later. There’s something I have to do.”  
Roxas glanced at Axel desperately wanting an answer but Axel leant over the desk and kissed the top of Roxas’ head.  
“Don’t do anything stupid while I’m not here Roxas.”  
The Silhouette stepped back and the sun came out from behind a cloud outside. Sunlight filled the classroom and Axel ran his black gloved hand down the air and opened a veil into the In Between.  
He disappeared and Roxas grabbed the textbook and frantically searched where Axel was reading. It had something to do with the lunar cycles and Roxas frowned and found where he was.

_‘Old Texts, from 1900 state that there was a werewolf living among people of small towns in the rural suburbs on the coast. It was written that every full moon, a humanoid with wolfish features terrorised a particular town in the valleys of Sunset Hill._   
_Witness statements declare that this particular werewolf grew more violent when the moon was at its fullest._

_“When the full moon came out he just seemed to go- go berserk” - Tim Preacher 1901_

Roxas jumped back in his seat and stared at the textbook. Though the paragraph was only small, it held so much meaning. It terrified Roxas. He ran his fingers through his golden spikes, “It couldn’t be talking about Saix?” he thought desperately.  
He looked at the picture of the corny werewolf on the page and a violent shudder went down his spine. He flicked the book shut and looked out the large windows of the classroom. The small cloud covering the sun had gone and in the bright sky, Roxas saw the very visible outline of the moon.  
It was almost full.  
Roxas felt dread fill him, Xemnas would harness Saix’ power from the moon and use him to attack everyone at full power. He gazed at the moon in the blue sky and gave it about two days until full moon.

Two Days until his whole life could be destroyed.

…

Roxas ran down the halls after third period, the recess bell had rung and Roxas needed to find his brother.   
In his hands, he held his textbook, with the particular page about the werewolves dog-eared.   
He saw Sora walking across the terrace with his friends and Olette and he ran towards him. “Sora!” he called. He didn’t hear him and Roxas felt like a moron for calling out. He readjusted his heavy bag and ran across the grass as Sora sat down at his normal spot.

Olette saw Roxas first and she nudged his brother and gestured towards the younger brother. Sora got to his feet with concern on his face and he said “Roxas! Are you ok?”   
Roxas dropped his bag and held the textbook firmly.   
Completely ignoring his friends Sora declared, “Where’s Axel? He was with you this morning?”   
“He went” Roxas said darkly. “He was terrorising me in class and then decided to look up ‘werewolves’ in my textbook.” He handed his brother the book and opened it up to the page Axel had discovered and pointed out the paragraph.  
“He found that and left.”

Sora read the paragraph, shock and pain filled his face and he whispered. “You think its Saix too?”   
Roxas nodded then added quietly “It’s about two days until full moon Sora, that’s when Xemnas will attack, Axel knows that.” 

Sora dropped the book as Olette came up beside him with a suspicious look on her face, “What’s the matter?”  
The brunette brother dropped the book on the grass and groaned. “That’s what Riku was talking about as well.” He gave a pained expression to Roxas, “They’re leaving Roxas, once Xemnas is killed, they will all leave.”

Roxas felt panic consume him, “Leave? Who will leave?” his chest began to hurt and Sora rubbed his face and his eyes were pained, “everyone we have befriended, everyone at that house will leave.”  
Roxas bit back the tears that stung his eyes but he knew.   
That wicked voice in his head whispered, _“Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten so attached, they wouldn’t stay behind because they made friends with you. They have endured enough pain already.”_  
Roxas bit his lip hard to stop the tears before he said in a cursed wobbly voice “I have to go home, I have to find Zexion or Vincent. They- they can’t leave me.”

Sora’s voice was glum “Do you think I want Naminé, Kairi or even Riku to leave? I have no choice do I?” he shook his head “You just can’t leave school Roxas; I don’t think you have been at school for a full day ever since we came here, mum will flip the lid if you come home.”

Roxas frowned and spun around helplessly, “Well maybe if I can- um- Axel would go find Vincent, if I can open-”

Sora sighed “You haven’t been able to go there without the aid of Axel Roxas; you can’t go there by yourself. He picked up the textbook; we have to tough school out and then get answers out of the others this afternoon.”

Roxas hated the idea and he exploded, throwing his hands up in the air. “We will be destroyed in less than two days and your telling me _to tough out school?”_ He spun around “No, I haven’t lived my life. There are things better than school; there are things better than _dying.”_

The blonde stomped back to his bag, “I’m going home and no one will stop me, fucking school won’t ever stop me!”

…

“You got sent to the principal’s office!” Aerith shrieked at Roxas when the brothers got home that day. “When I got that phone call I nearly fell over, what would bring you to such silly measures to walk out of school?”

Roxas hung his head and mumbled an apology and Aerith gripped the bridge of her nose and murmured, “I know strange things are happening to us sweetheart, but don’t let this get in the way of your education, your future.”

She gazed back to her youngest son “For that little stunt you pulled today young man, you are grounded for a week. No leaving the house and no hanging out with your friends.”   
Roxas gazed up and said heatedly “I have no friends on the outside anyway mum, they’re all here!”

He went to walk to the stairs and Aerith grabbed his elbow and demanded, “Oh no, I’m not done with you yet Roxas.” She sent Sora away and put her hands on her hips.  
Roxas almost jumped up in glee when he saw shadows seep up his legs and two dark figures manifested either side of him.

Aerith stepped back slightly and let her hands drop and there was a smooth, emotionless voice. “Your punishment won’t go unheard Aerith, but please forgive us. We really do need Roxas.”

Roxas tried not to smile in relief and he looked up at the solemn face of Zexion and the somewhat serious face of Demyx. The younger Silhouette grabbed Roxas’ arm and began to pull him and he said in a sickly sweet voice “Come on Roxy, we have to talk.”

Zexion sighed, shaking his head and he led the two up the stairs with little protest from Aerith.   
As they got to the top of the stairs and out of sight, Demyx let go of Roxas and Zexion spun around and smacked Roxas upside the head. “Oww” Roxas complained, instantly placing a hand on the sore spot.

“That was for your Mother,” Zexion said coolly. He opened Roxas’ room and ushered the two in. He shut the door behind him and then looked at Roxas, “Where’s Axel?”  
Still glaring at the Master Magician Roxas scowled, “Not here obviously!”  
Demyx snorted back a laugh and Zexion’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Roxas dropped his hands and sighed, “He went to the In Between, there was something that we found at school today. I wanted to come here and tell you or Vincent because it’s really disturbing.”

To Zexion, he saw the blonde boys eyes instantly fill with pain and hurt when he said this and refrained a loud sigh. Obviously, the boy had found something out that he didn’t like.   
Demyx gave him a short, concerned glare before he went over to Roxas and slung his arms around his shoulder. “What did you find that got you so upset Roxy?”

Cue on the nickname Roxas scowled then said, “Axel went through my history textbook at school today. He opened to a page about the myth of werewolves or something. It mentioned Twilight Town and its ‘resident’ berserker werewolf.”  
Zexion remained expressionless and Roxas continued, “Their powers are boosted considerably on a full moon.”

That’s all he needed to say

Zexion’s eyes went a shade darker and he hissed, “That’s two and half days away.” He glanced to Demyx and back to Roxas who nodded at the unasked question.  
“We think that’s when Xemnas is going to attack, with Saix going berserk from the full moon, that’s when he’ll attack us.”

Zexion gripped the bridge of his nose and groaned. “I should have known that, after all these years and I never picked up on it, utterly stupid- ridiculous.”  
“That’s not all I heard” Roxas added quietly.  
Demyx gazed at him with a worried expression, “What else did you hear Roxas?”   
The tears stung again and Roxas almost whispered, “Sora said if Xemnas is killed, you guys will leave.”  
Zexion froze and Demyx’s hand tightened on Roxas’ shoulder.

Roxas thought the worst then, “It’s true?” he whispered and Zexion sighed, “To an extent your brother is right Roxas, he will get hit harder because his friends, the Spirits will simply fade from existence. We are given a choice.”

Roxas fought valiantly with the tears but one wobbled precariously and fell down onto his cheek. The shock and the hurt bloomed in his chest and he choked out, “B-But I don’t want you guys to leave- you are all I have!”

Zexion gazed at a hurt looking Demyx and felt regret sting his chest, “We don’t want to stay here forever Roxas, particularly this house. You can imagine our pain and our torment from living here both past and present.”

It just got worse

Roxas felt more tears slip from his eyes, “No, you can’t do this to me. I’m a stupid human; my life sucks because I am a human. Then I get these awesome supernatural friends and think that I’m wanted by at least someone-” he heaved in a deep breath “only to have them tell me that they won’t stick around.”

He refused to let a cry rattle his chest and Demyx blinked his large blue eyes and drew Roxas into a tight hug.   
The Silhouette refused to let emotion overwhelm him, but seeing one of his close friends in so much pain just made it so much harder. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world Roxas” he tried to joke but it fell on deaf ears.

Suddenly the room went all warm, there was a flash of gold, and Axel emerged from the transparent, wispy veil between dimensions. He instantly grimaced and he spun around to see a distraught Roxas and a very concerned looking Demyx.

Zexion spun around and he hissed to Axel, “Can you please talk some sense into him; I do not cope well with an influx of tears and emotion.” 

Axel frowned at the Schemer “What the hell did you do you prick!”

Zexion shrugged and glared lividly at the pyro, “Roxas has bombarded us with the questions of everybody leaving. He wouldn’t take pain and suffering as an answer.”

Axel shook his head remorsefully and strode towards Demyx, who instantly let go of Roxas and said “He’s all yours Axel; I can’t hold tears for very long.”  
Roxas instantly flung himself at Axel and he cried desperately “You won’t leave me will you Axel? Please say you can stay!”

Roxas was upset and Axel unwound Roxas’ arms and bent down to his level. He had to be serious about this matter.

“Roxas, you can’t sob and blubber like a baby alright? You will never know of our suffering, because you never went through it. But heed us out; some of us will need a break from this place. We won’t fade like Sora’s friends but we won’t hang around either.”  
Axel gazed directly into Roxas’ sapphire eyes, “I however, I won’t- can’t leave; whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me forever- well until the day you die.”

His smile wasn’t returned; instead, Roxas wiped his eyes and nodded. “I’m just being selfish, but it’s hard to think that you guys will go away. I have grown so accustomed to you guys to be here with me, especially when I need you most.”

Demyx smiled at Zexion and Axel before he stepped to Roxas, “We will always be around Roxas, but when you want to let us go, we shall go. Wouldn’t want us to ruin your life eh?”

He winked to the blonde and all Roxas could do force a small smile and nod. But he only felt hollow and sadness filled his stomach.   
Making him feel ill.


	26. Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Lemon is in this Chapter. It is not a relevant chapter to those of who who don't want to read it.   
> I have warned you :) So enjoy.

“I don’t feel well.”

Roxas picked at his dinner and rearranged the food on his plate.  
His stomach felt like lead and his mind seemed to be squashing his brain.   
He hurt, he hurt all over and no matter how hard he tried to banish his thoughts from his mind; it only continued to get worse.

He gazed at the people at the table before him, Sora moped, He didn’t even attempt to eat his dinner. He sat back in his chair with his arms folded; he seemed to be deep in thought.   
His mother ate her dinner carefully while she listened to Cloud talk about his boring job.

The blonde brother drew his attention away from his family and saw in the sitting area Larxene and Marluxia. The female Silhouette gestured to Roxas to hurry up and eat and Marluxia got up and began to pace over the mat. 

Roxas looked at his plate once more, shoved some food to the corner of the plate and stood up grumbling his excuse. He walked into the kitchen, threw the food in the bin and dropped the plate into the sink. He tried to hurry out without being asked any questions but his Father beat him.

“Why didn’t you eat your dinner Roxas?” 

Roxas mentally cursed and paused at the table and turned to face his Father.

“I ate most of it” he started lamely, “I wasn’t even that hungry.”

Before Cloud could speak and reprimand his youngest son, Sora sat forward and pushed his plate away. “I didn’t even touch my dinner, at least Roxas ate some.” He scowled at the table and got to his feet.

“Sora!” Cloud barked but Sora waved his hand, “Fuck this shit, I’m over it.” The brunette brother stalked to the stairs and stomped up them and Roxas was quick to follow him.   
Aerith turned around to see Marluxia and Larxene go towards the stairs as well and all she could feel was dread begin to form in her stomach.   
Even the demons were acting out of character, she might not have known them for a long time, but she knew Marluxia and he was worried about something.

“Roxas, wait up you little twerp.” Larxene swept up the stairs next to Roxas and she said in an abrupt voice, “Demyx told us about your little predicament, if you ask me; I find it to be a little selfish but-!”

As they reached the top of the stairs, Larxene grabbed Roxas’ arm and forced him to look at her. “I won’t leave Roxas, I’m terrified to leave. This is all I know, so you don’t have to worry. I doubt any of us would leave.” She gave him a reassuring smile but Marluxia cut that short.  
“I would.”

Roxas saw Larxene’s green eyes flash and narrow like a cats and she hissed, “Shut up you moron, you never told me this.”   
She gave Roxas a quick smile again before she spun around and grabbed Marluxia by the ear. 

_“What the hell did I tell you?”_ she hissed, they disappeared into darkness and Roxas sighed into the darkness of the hall.

“At least they care about you Roxas.”

Roxas heard Sora’s voice behind him; he turned around and through the dimness, the blonde saw Sora. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly, “My friends don’t have a chance.”

Roxas sighed and shook his head; “The Silhouettes are more than my friends Sora, they are like a family. That’s why it hurts me so much.”   
He turned to his bedroom door, “But they are right, it’s selfish of us to cling to them. They have suffered enough.” He smiled briefly “I have Axel glued to me for the next eighty years or so.”

He disappeared into his bedroom and Sora turned to his. _“Eighty years?”_ Sora thought, Axel was immortal. He wouldn’t want Roxas to die, unless he was willing to die himself. This was highly doubtful for the red head Silhouette.

Sora opened his bedroom door and walked right on in. He cried out in shock and spun around, he realised then; that he had just walked through Riku.   
The silver haired boy gazed at him grimly and Sora let a small, nervous chuckle.   
“H-Hey Riku, uh- it’s been a while hasn’t it?”

The spirit didn’t look amused and when he spoke, his voice was soft and full of sincerity.   
“I’m sorry that we aren’t able to do anything about this Sora.”

Sora felt his gut clench and before his words choked him, he managed to say weakly, “Do what Riku?” He knew what the Spirit meant but he wanted to hear it from Riku, more so curious to hear what he had to say.

Riku glanced around the misty room before he finally said, “I know I sounded and acted like I didn’t care about this family and what has happened here for the past couple of months. I might have destroyed the trust you had with me Sora, but please heed me out.”  
Riku’s large sad eyes grew darker  
“To be honest, your family has changed us Sora, changed all of us dramatically. For over a century we all believed that we were cursed to the darkness, that we were under bad luck; all we wanted to do was to die, to cross over.”

“Try not to make a life story out of this Riku” Sora joked lamely.  
But Riku didn’t take it the wrong way, instead giving Sora a small smile. “But when your family came Sora, it stopped the fighting that had been raging against us and the Silhouettes. You treated us like we were worth something, we were important to you, now we don’t want to die.”

Sora felt his stomach twist and his eyes began to sting with the incoming wave of tears that threatened. He went to say something but no words came out. He couldn’t speak; his gaze was fixated on the Spirit.  
He fought valiantly with the tears and he stumbled a step back before Riku whispered, “That’s all I wanted to say Sora.”

He made a move to walk past Sora but the brunette reached out, his hand grasping Riku’s wrist. The Spirit solidified and Riku cast a longing glance to the boy before impulse made him step forward and crush his cold lips to Sora’s.

*****

Roxas clicked the door shut softly behind him as he walked into his bedroom. He was greeted by pitch darkness and Roxas felt the hurt whiplash his chest. He fell back against the door and tried to fight the tears for the zillionth time. 

He looked up when his bedside lamp illuminated softly, filling his room with a soft golden glow. Axel stepped from the shadows, his face looking just as remorseful. He let his hands drop to his sides and he gazed to Roxas.  
“Hey” he said softly

That one word made Roxas start to cry all over again.

Axel held out his arms his eyes pained, “Come here” he gestured to the blonde and Roxas pushed from the door and almost ran to the Silhouette. He threw his arms around Axel’s thin waist and Axel gripped him tightly and said, “You can’t do this to us Rox, you just cant.”

“It’s not fair Axel” Roxas muttered into the folds of Axel’s black cloak; “I don’t want to be the selfish one, but you are all my friends, closer than my friends and I’m not willing to let all of you go that easily.”

Axel turned and fell onto the bed and Roxas fell on his lap, the blondes face went cherry red before he adjusted himself and sat beside Axel, his head falling on Axel’s shoulder. Axel chuckled slightly before he said staring out the doors to the balcony, “I wanted to thank you Roxas, thank you for everything you have done for not only me but for all the Silhouettes.”

Roxas looked up and gazed at Axel, “What have I done for you to say thank you Axel?”

The Silhouette turned down to the blonde his green eyes flashing, “Well you fixed me for one Roxas, gave me something that I had lost a long time ago. You stuck by me, even though at first you were terrified of me. You opened my eyes to how much the others cared about me and from all the other Silhouettes; you let us into your family. Made us feel needed, you and your brother reunited Larxene and Naminé and-”  
Axel sighed and looked back to Roxas, “You made me fall hard for you Roxas, never thought it would be possible but you made me think of the world differently and now, I think I’m in bloody love with you.”

Axel’s pale face seemed to flush and Roxas felt the quick pang of embarrassment and fright fly through him before he whispered to the Silhouette,   
“It’s the same with me Axel, I have become so attached to you, I feel-”   
Roxas bit his lip quickly before he finished softly “I feel the same way about you.”

Axel shifted on the bed until he was facing Roxas and the blonde boy instantly knew what he had gotten himself into. Fright coursed through him again and his mind shrieked in panic.  
 _‘What do I do? You just gave him freaking consent’_  
 _‘I have no idea’_  
 _‘Oh god he’s gunna kiss me, do you know what that leads to next’?_

Roxas didn’t realise he was holding his breath when he watched with wide eyes. Axel bent down and his lips hit the blondes.  
Roxas’ chest fluttered and in the inner recess of his mind was in an absolute turmoil

_‘Shiittt, alright keep calm this won’t be a disaster like last time’_   
_‘Am I even ready for this’?_   
_‘OH SHUT UP AND KISS HIM’_

Roxas listened to the small angry voice in his head and returned the kiss that Axel was giving him. It was true; he had no idea what he was going to do but he would have to learn eventually.   
One of Axel’s arms snaked around Roxas and pushed him closer while the other came around to the back of Roxas’ head.  
The younger boy refrained from pulling back and fought the feelings of panic that threatened to consume him. A muscle cramped in his hip when Axel’s warm hand snaked under his shirt and ran up his back.

“You’re cold,” Axel whispered, his hot breath shooting down Roxas’ neck. An almost painful tingle ran down the human’s spine and Roxas whimpered softly as Axel pushed him tighter against his body.

The Silhouettes warm lips grabbed Roxas’ again and the small blonde grabbed Axel’s shoulders tightly as Axel made a soft hissing sound at the back of his throat.

There was another thrill of panic when Roxas felt Axel’s tongue graze his lips begging for entrance. 

Should he? Shouldn’t he?

Roxas hesitated for a split second before unclenching his jaw and allowing entrance for the Silhouette. Axel’s tongue fought with Roxas’ before the smaller blonde relaxed and had to pull away gasping for breath.  
Axel leant his forehead up against his and whispered, “You still scared Roxas?”

Immediately feeling ashamed Roxas averted his eyes and muttered pathetically, “I-I’m sorry Axel, I don’t know what I’m doing.”  
Axel chuckled “Don’t worry Roxas, I will show you. You don’t have to be shy, it’s only me.”

Feeling a little more reassured Roxas nodded and hesitantly looked back to the red head Silhouette and kissed him softly on the lips.   
Axels hand ran up and down his back sending tingles in all different directions, the heat radiating off the Silhouettes body was making him feel a little flushed already. 

Axel kissed Roxas back before saying in a husky voice, “your mine Roxas, you belong to me.” The blonde nearly gasped when he felt Axel’s fangs pierce his bottom lip and he felt the sharp copper tang of his blood.  
The Silhouette growled and holding Roxas, the pair fell back onto the bed and Axel steadied himself on top of Roxas and started to undo the blonde’s shirt with their lips still locked in a bloody battle.

Roxas turned his head away and opened his eyes to see Axel’s teeth and his lips tainted in bright crimson blood, his eyes were narrowed and menacing and Roxas shrugged from his shirt and Axel growled like an animal and claimed him again.   
Axel’s mouth trailed from Roxas’ and slid down his neck, leaving hot kisses down his skin.   
New feelings enveloped Roxas and he began to tremble with the anticipation as Axel went lower and lower. The Silhouettes fangs nipped his collarbone and as Roxas made a soft noise of shock Axel bit down again.   
Roxas squirmed and he saw golden dust trail down from him and land on his bed cover. He lifted his hands from the bed and saw his palm glowing before Axel lifted his head and growled softly, “Our powers are reacting to each other.”

He rose slightly and whispered in Roxas’ ear, “You’re shaking Roxas, are you scared?”  
His warm breath sent another chill down Roxas’ spine before he said shakily, “No, I’m not scared Axel. It- it feels _good.”_  
It was true words

Axel grinned a large fanged Cheshire grin before he lowered his head and started to nibble on Roxas’ earlobe; “All you have to do is sit back and enjoy Roxas” he purred. 

Axel’s hands dipped lower and his fingers brushed the top of Roxas’ pants.   
The blonde sucked in a surprised breath and Axel lifted his head and bought his lips back to Roxas, “Shh” he hushed, “Just let me do it.”

His tongue delved back into Roxas’ mouth and his fingers got busy and slipped in Roxas’ pants.   
This sent a violent shiver down Roxas’ spine, the tingling almost became numbing and one last time his mind screeched, _’What have I done’?_

Axel’s fingers brushed lightly against the elastic of the blonde’s pants, his delicate touch making Roxas shiver and tingle. He opened his large blue eyes when Axel drew away and he met the animalistic gaze of the Silhouette above him.  
His acidic eyes drew down the smaller body below him and he put his head back closer to Roxas and whispered in his ear;

“You ready?”

Roxas couldn’t say no now could he?   
Instead, he nodded his head helplessly.

Without waiting for further exclamations, the pyro simply pulled down the blondes pants and left him in his checkered boxer shorts.  
Roxas flushed in embarrassment before he thought to himself,   
_‘Why does he get to strip me down and leaves all his clothes on?’_

Suddenly feeling bold, Roxas reached his hands up and grasped the silver zipper to Axel’s coat. Faltering for only a moment, he then started to pull it down hearing the cloak parting. 

Axel’s chuckle was wicked, “Want to see what you are up against are you?”   
Roxas frowned slightly, “Its unfair” he almost choked out, “Here I am practically naked and you’re still dressed!”

Axel grinned toothily at him, “And here you are, still talking! When you should be groaning and hardly breathing.” 

He kissed Roxas again, his tongue swirling and agitating the bite marks on Roxas lower lip. His hands fiddled with Roxas’ boxers and Roxas opened his eyes to see the cloak fall away from Axel’s lithe body.

Roxas propped himself up on his elbows his small body bumping against Axel’s and Axel drew his head back his dark eyes clouding over with a dark emotion.

Roxas nearly fell back down when he felt the feeling of humiliation well up from Axel. He pushed back lightly on Axel, forcing him up a little and stared at the Silhouettes chest.

Axel grew more embarrassed and fearful when Roxas looked at the savage marks raked across the body of the red head Silhouette. Forever marred; his eyes were then drawn to an angry black scar directly over Axel’s heart.  
Red and black veins snaked from it and from habit; Roxas drew back and sucked on his bottom lip. Wincing when he tasted his own blood.

Axel looked angry and scared when he sat back and he barked harshly, “It’s that bastards Xemnas’ fault. He stabbed me through the chest taking my heart. I am stuck with this hole in my chest and now you look at me like some monster.”

Roxas got up and froze when he became acutely aware of his problem ‘downstairs’ and tried not to blush when he scooted over to Axel and said;   
“It’s not your fault Xemnas done that to you, to me; this shows that you are a fighter and that scar you have is a symbol.”   
He smiled gently and grabbed Axel’s hand in one of his own and with the other delicately pressed his palm against the monster scar on Axel’s chest. “That there” he started softly “That is being shared with mine.”

He pressed Axel’s hand against his chest and they both felt the steady thrum of Roxas heart. “Those scars are nothing to be ashamed about Axel, I will never see you differently, you are Axel and that’s all that matters.”

Axel’s eyes softened and he said in a grateful voice, “Thank you Roxas, now I don’t have to worry.”

He chuckled slightly before his eyes glinted maliciously and he mocked; “Looks like my poor little Roxy has a problem.” His teeth became sharp again and he pushed Roxas back against his pillows.  
Then he leant over the side of the bed manipulating the shadows to open Roxas bedside table. “Now, I knew you hid some stuff in here. I watched you do it.” He craned over and then began to rummage through it and Roxas squeaked,   
“What can’t I do without you watching?”

Axel pulled back satisfied with a tube full of gel and Roxas groaned closing his eyes. He could only imagine what pervy things Axel would have done. 

His eyes flew open when Axel grabbed his shoulders and ordered, “Alright, turn around Roxas. I swear, if you wuss out on me now I won’t be very happy.”  
Fear built up again, Roxas dug his face into his pillow, and soon after, he began to feel uncomfortable with his arousal digging into the mattress.  
He heard Axel hum softly under his breath and then heard the Silhouettes shoes fall to the floor and the clinks as the pants fell to the floor. The tiny hairs at the back of his throat began to prickle.

“There’s no running away after this Roxas,” Axel said seriously and the blonde snorted into his pillow, “I thought I was pretty screwed with running away after you bit me.”  
Axel chuckled then, “Well, I should tell you now. It gets worse after this.”

Before Roxas could lift his head and exclaim why, he uttered a large surprised yelp into his pillow when his boxers were suddenly pulled off and he was left butt naked on his bed.

He shrunk into his blankets when he felt the looming shadow of Axel and squeezed his eyes shut when Axel clicked his fangs together then a cold slimy presence at his opening.

Instantly Roxas curled his toes, threw his arms under his pillow, and clamped the edges of it over his head. He made a small noise of insecurity into the mounds of pillows and blankets.

He squirmed when he felt the Silhouettes finger dig inside of him, then another trying to soothe Roxas. 

“Come on Rox” Axel said, “You’re trying to fight me, just relax.”  
Roxas just heard him from his little cave he had made with his pillow before Axel leant over pushing his fingers further and scissoring Roxas’ entrance.   
“Having that pillow over your head won’t work either.”

Roxas whined then tried to relax his fighting body, he didn’t want to hurt Axel and he knew with sure certainty that Axel would never hurt him. However, sheer embarrassment kept his head in the pillow and his arms would surely not loosen any time soon.

He didn’t hear Axel whisper, “Alright, ready Roxas?”

Suddenly the intruding fingers were gone and something else was ready to push into him. His toes clenched back up and Axel said, “Rox, just relax. Trust me.”  
Hearing the Silhouettes calm voice made Roxas try to bend his will to fight any more and for the second time he relaxed, his body and then felt the intrusion. 

He suppressed a small groan when Axel pushed into him and a shocked whimper escaped his chest at the sudden jolt of pain. He began to tremble at first but as fast as it came, the pain disappeared and he felt Axel freeze before saying, “You ok?”

Roxas nodded feeling dumb and Axel asked again, “You going to let go of that pillow and show me your face?”   
Roxas shook his head.

Axel chuckled and said adjusting himself, “Well I’m flexible, but I’m not going down without a fight.”

He lowered himself on Roxas lavishing the feel of the blonde’s body melding with his beneath him. He felt the trembling of anticipation rolling off Roxas, but the blonde refused to let go of the pillow which quite effectively covered his whole head except the golden spike tufts poking out from behind.

Axel clicked his fangs together; he would have to get that scar on Roxas’ neck. He needed to get rid of that damned pillow.  
His hands slid up Roxas’ body and he lowered his head to Roxas’ ear, “I will win Roxas.”  
He slid under Roxas and his hands trailed down the blonde’s chest and lowered until it propped his hips up.

He began to move inside of Roxas trying to find a rhythm, the blonde incredibly warm below him and he smiled to himself when he heard a small moan from the pillow head. “A-Axel”

The Silhouette dipped his head and then quickly nipped the back of Roxas’ neck when the tension dropped.   
The sudden shock made Roxas’ hands loosen around his head and with a quick inhuman movement, Axel spun the blonde around. He grinned maliciously at the large startled blue eyes of Roxas and he started to move against him again.

 

Roxas’ hands flew up to Axel’s shoulders as they began to move in unison and Roxas found himself responding to Axel’s movements. His hips went traitor and ground against Axel’s making his arousal worse.  
It rubbed against Axel’s lower abdomen and Roxas let another whine escape him at the sudden wave of pleasure wash over him. His eyes made contact with Axel’s emerald gaze and the Silhouette grinned.

He kissed him on the lips, hard, grinding his body against the Silhouettes and Axel’s hands roamed hungrily over his body. Axel kissed his way down from Roxas’ mouth and the blonde let another soft cry escape him. 

“I-I can’t, c-can’t- 

He heard Axel hush him gently and the pace between them began to quicken. Axel would almost draw from Roxas before pushing back in becoming more desperate and building more power.

Sweat began to cover Roxas, making him slide and stick against Axel’s flame hot body. Each thrust, he rose to meet Axel and he groaned when Axel’s large hands enveloped his rock hard arousal and drew his hands up and down it.   
Intense feelings pulsated through Roxas and he found himself jerking in Axel’s grip. 

Axel pushed in again, Roxas cried out beneath him his eyes shut and the sweat covering his body in a shining film.   
They would become one and Axel revelled in that thought.   
He brought Roxas closer and he ran his hand up and down Roxas hard arousal. His fangs lengthened and pushing himself right up he then sunk his fangs and bit Roxas on the neck.  
The same spot where he very first bit him.  
There seemed to be a blue/ white flash behind his eyes and Roxas let a howl rip from his throat.

There was a flash of gold and Roxas fell back to his bed and released all over Axel. Axel came not a moment later and he fell on top of Roxas, wearily lifted his head, and watched golden sparkles fall about them.

He withdrew and fell back beside the blonde and Roxas rubbed his sweaty face wearily smearing his face with golden dust. He turned his head towards Axel and the Silhouette inched forward and planted a kiss on Roxas’ lips.

All Roxas did was smile sleepily before his large blue eyes drooped and his face became peaceful as he nodded off.

Axel sighed and pulled the blankets up on the blonde, he was sticky and one glance at his body told him that the fire was burning hotly and it wouldn’t cool down any time soon.  
He grabbed his cloak and then hesitated whether or not he should leave Roxas alone.

He decided then; _‘I won’t be gone long.'_

Axel looked down at the peaceful Roxas and swore that he would let nothing harm Roxas. It was his oath to protect the blonde and he was going to stick by it.  
That’s all he could do, as he went to leave, he was struck by the thought.

_“But who would you protect first? Roxas or the other Silhouettes?”_


	27. Two Days

He seemed to glow, like there was a tiny sun inside of him.  
That’s all he could say…

*****

He opened one eye and saw Axel lying on the bed beside him.  
Memories of the night before flooded him and the blonde sat upright and winced at the sudden pain that shot down his spine.

He felt sticky and dirty and he looked around for anything to cover himself with. As his gaze set on Axel, he blushed and bundled the blankets around him. He got off the bed and Axel muttered incoherently.

“Huh what are you-?”

“Shower” Roxas grumbled, he grabbed his boxer shorts and pulled them on before darting to the door and slamming it shut behind him. He ran down the hall and saw the bathroom door shut.  
He heard the shower running and Roxas shouted, “Sora you bastard, you have your own bathroom!”

Sora’s voice came back, “My shower is broken you ass, wait your turn.”

Roxas banged his fist against the door and felt his legs begin to ache from the pain in his lower back. He sighed then spun around in fright when he heard his name. 

“Hiya Roxas, I didn’t get to speak to you last night, Zexion made me go out and do-.”  
Roxas let a yelp escape him when he saw Demyx.  
His face went red and unable to be in the small hall with the bubbly Silhouette; Roxas tore past him and ran back to his bedroom.  
He slammed the door shut and he heard Axel snicker, “Why are you embarrassed Roxas, Demyx would know.”

“Know what?” Roxas asked in a wobbly voice, feeling his face burn and Axel shrugged, “Everything.”

Roxas rubbed at his face desperately then realised with a hot flush that Axel wasn’t wearing anything underneath his cloak, which was hanging open.  
He squeaked in shock when there was a knock at the door behind him. 

“Roxas? What’s the matter?”  
It was Demyx.

Roxas looked to Axel and hissed, “Get something on; I don’t want Demyx coming in and seeing you.”  
Axel grinned wickedly, “Jealous are we?”  
Roxas scowled, “No I’m more embarrassed, that’s what.”

Axel smirked and zipped up his cloak and Roxas groaned, “Oh I’m so going to die.”

The door went a deep shade of black before Demyx misted in looking confused.  
“Hey guys, just to-”

The young Silhouette stopped and then drew in a deep breath, smelling the room. His eyes popped wide and shot a wide-eyed gaze to Axel who simply scratched the back of his neck.

Roxas went tomato red and he slid down the door with a sheepish grin decorating his face. All he wanted to do was melt through the floor and die. 

Demyx let a snort escape his throat, he strode over to Roxas and stood over him and beamed, “There’s no need to be embarrassed Roxas, it’s only me.”  
Roxas groaned and Axel said, “Told you that he would understand Roxas.”

Demyx held out his hand and helped the blonde up still grinning wickedly and said, “Don’t worry Rox, once you are over the initial embarrassment you will learn to love it.”

Roxas yanked his hand away from the teasing Silhouette and Demyx smiled once more, “I’m just messing with you Roxas.”

After he said that his face went serious and he turned to Axel and said “Zexion wants to speak to you, he sent me to go get you; it’s about the Master Silhouette.” Demyx gnawed on his bottom lip and Roxas gazed to his friends anxiously before they all heard Aerith downstairs;

“Roxas! Sora! Get ready for school and come downstairs for breakfast.”

The young blonde sighed, threw his hand out and said, “How am I going to get out of this? Mum is already furious that I have been skipping out on school constantly, if I get caught once more I’m a goner.”

Demyx looked back and forth between the red head Silhouette and the human before saying desperately; “But this is urgent, Zexion needs to speak to Axel right away, it’s going to be difficult if you can’t at least tag along.”

Roxas twisted his hands together nervously before he heard the bathroom door open and Sora come padding down the hall. Axel came to his rescue by saying; “Look Dem, Roxas is dying for a shower, go get Zexion and we can speak while he washes himself.”  
He sent a quick wink in Roxas’ direction and Demyx obliged misting away into the shadows “Alright I will be back.”

When Demyx disappeared, Axel scratched the back of his head wearily and Roxas felt the embarrassment dropping away feeling the fright welling up when Axel started to grow more and more uncertain.  
“What’s going to happen Axel?” he asked softly.

The Silhouette shook his head and looked at Roxas “Nothing will happen to you Roxas; I am going to protect you. You don’t have to be scared alright.”

Roxas countered; “Axel but what about the others? We are all depending on you.”  
At his words, Axel blanched and said in a darker voice, “The others can defend themselves quite readily; they don’t need me holding their hands while we fight.”

Roxas opened the door and they ventured back out into the hall and walked to the bathroom. The blonde turned around and saw Axel fall back against the wall with a short reply, “I will stay here, Zexion needs to speak to me.”

Roxas nodded and went into the steamy bathroom and clicked the door shut. Once Axel was out of sight, the panic consumed Roxas and his heart began to pound in his chest. The fight that was looming was looking grimmer and more dangerous by the second and Roxas was terrified for his family and friends.  
A feeling of dread began to pool in his stomach and fighting down the nausea; he strode over to the shower and twisted the knobs.

*****

Axel scowled when he saw Zexion mist beside him.  
The Schemer was icy as he regarded Axel and the Pyro hissed.  
“Roxas is terrified in there, you shouldn’t have sent Demyx. He just announced to the whole world that you needed to speak to me about Vincent.”

He shook his head and Zexion said coolly, “Well it does concern both you and Roxas, but you done the right thing and sent him away. He cannot be driven to distraction any further; he would do stupid things otherwise.”

Axel pushed from the wall and he stood over the Magician and hissed menacingly, “What is it that you need to tell me Zexion, I have enough to worry about and you come with more bad news.”

Zexion folded his arms and said in a flat, monotone voice; “Fine, I shall keep it simple then” his azure eyes narrowed, “Vincent is a liar, he says that he will help us all, but that is a lie. He will let Xemnas kill us all and when Xemnas is obliterated, Vincent will take you and Roxas away, he doesn’t give a damn about any of us.”

*****

Aerith hummed her way around her kitchen setting out the plates for breakfast. She had heard Sora come out of the shower and Roxas go in.  
She gazed at the clock, which read 7:05 and smiled to herself as she went back to the stove.

Not a minute later, she heard Cloud come down the stairs and clomp into the kitchen. “Good morning” she greeted and she kissed her husband on the cheek before he muttered, “Smells good.”

Cloud left the kitchen and across the entertainment, area and Aerith flipped the pancakes around. She began to hum again and went to the cupboard to pull out all the toppings that her boys used on pancakes, Sugar, Maple Syrup, Strawberry Jam.  
She placed them out on the kitchen counter, then went back to the pan. She was satisfied when the pancakes were golden brown and she grabbed the large plate ready to serve them up.

She grabbed the egg flip beside the stove and deftly put the pancakes on the plate. Once a decent stack was made, Aerith turned around carefully and was going to make her way to the counter.

Then she let a piercing scream erupt from her chest.  
The plate dropped from her hands and the plate shattered, sending glass shards and food in every direction in the kitchen.  
She stumbled back in fright and accidentally placed her hand on the still hot stove. But the pain didn’t hit her yet. She was staring dumbstruck out the window.

“MUM” Sora panicked call came down the stairs and Marluxia’s worried voice came through the front door, “Aerith, what happened?”  
The pink haired Silhouette froze and Larxene appeared behind him and squealed. 

Sora fell down the stairs with Naminé and Riku in pursuit and Sora gasped and looked at Naminé, “Go get the others, NOW!”  
Naminé obliged and quickly misted back up the stairs.

*****

At Aerith’s high-pitched scream, Axel lurched forward and Roxas’ worried voice came from the bathroom, “That was Mum.”

A moment later, the spirit Naminé appeared with a panicked look on her face. She was trembling and all she did was point to the stairs.  
The pyro gazed at the Schemer who knew exactly what to do. He disappeared in a swirl of black smoke with Demyx and not a moment later the bathroom door flung open and a saturated, half-dressed Roxas came out.  
He ran for the stairs and Axel was hot on his heels, they thundered down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen.

Roxas froze and horror cascaded through him.

Up against the kitchen window was the snarling face of Saix. His yellow eyes were livid and a large, fanged grin was plastered across his face.  
His vicious grin turned on Roxas and his large black claws began to slink up the glass.

The blonde heard a worried whimper from his mother and his father’s anxious voice.

Then, the Silhouettes parted and Axel strode through the kitchen with flaming fists. He didn’t care whether he could be seen, he went to the window.  
Saix roared and Axel thrust his fists through the glass. It shattered everywhere and Roxas yelped when he felt acute pain spear bolt up his hands and arms.

Axel hauled Saix up to his face through the ruined window and shouted ferociously “Get the fuck away from us you mongrel.”  
The flames started to burn Saix who began to squirm in pain. His fangs elongated and snarls erupted from his throat. Axel drew back a fist and hit the Berserker and Saix kicked back and launched himself through the window.

Aerith screamed and Sora shouted at his parents to leave as Axel sent a wave of flames scattering the Spirits and the Silhouettes.  
“What is going on here?” Cloud shouted and Saix’s golden eyes slid onto Roxas. He snarled and lost focus on Axel altogether. He turned towards the blonde and with a cry of fury; Axel sent flames toward the Berserker.

Saix knocked the wall away and began to stalk Roxas. The blonde inched away with the terror filling him and he heard the worried voice of Demyx. “Roxas is in there! Axel put the flames up and trapped him in there.” 

Roxas searched for a way to escape and Axel pushed his way in front of Saix and went to hit him physically. However, Saix grabbed his arm and with his long, foul fangs, he sunk his teeth into the Pyro’s arm.  
Both Roxas and Axel let out a yell of pain and dark red blood began to decorate the kitchen tiles.  
Axel pulled his arm away and Saix smirked maniacally with Axel’s blood dripping down his fangs and chin. Gripping his arm Axel stumbled back helplessly and on the other side of the room, Roxas looked at his own arm and saw black veins snaking up it and a horrified thought hit him. _‘Poison.'_

“Hang on guys!” Demyx wavering but determined voice broke through and Axel’s flames were distinguished by a wave of water. Demyx’s large Sitar loomed into view and with a scared look on his face; he pointed the head of the Sitar to Saix and said in a wobbly voice;  
“Y-You’re going down mon- mongrel.”

A large wave of water cascaded down on Saix, Demyx lurched forward, and with a sickening blow, he whacked Saix with his instrument. 

He looked back to Axel and Roxas and stammered, “Get out of here guys.”  
He hit Saix again and the images of demented clones began to manifest around him. 

He let Axel and Roxas escape and Axel croaked out in pain, “We have to get out of here, NOW.”  
The Spirits, Silhouettes and humans nodded and Sora exclaimed “What about Demyx?” His question went unanswered as the silver haired Riku pushed him, “Listen to them Sora, get out of here.” 

Roxas staggered to Aerith and pulled her arm, “Mum, we have to go.”  
Aerith gazed at her son’s arms and her large green eyes widened further, “What did you do to your arm?”

There was a roar from the kitchen and as everyone ran for the door there was an explosion and Zexion, who was at the entrance of the kitchen face-planted the ground.

“Demyx!” Roxas shouted, ready to turn back and defend on of his closest friends. But Axel pulled him back with his free arm and said hoarsely, “Don’t.”  
There was another bang and the Silhouettes fled the house dragging Aerith and Cloud out.

Out on the driveway, they were greeted by the looming figure of Vincent. He didn’t bat an eye and without a word, he strode into the house.

Aerith cautiously looked at her son and his accompanying Silhouette. “Who was that?” she whispered and Roxas murmured back, “He is a Boss mum, the thing is, we don’t know whether or not he came here to help us.”

A moment later, there was a large crash and Saix went sailing out onto the front lawn. There was a crack and Vincent appeared behind him and hauled him off his feet, “Don’t make me destroy your other arm.”

Saix smirked despite his condition and with a raspy voice, he murmured; “He is coming for you.”

Then in a scuffle and a haze of black smoke Saix disappeared.  
The silence hung about for a moment before Axel doubled over in pain and collapsed with Roxas closely following suit.

*****

“What are we going to do?”

Marluxia looked helplessly at Larxene and both Xigbar and Luxord shrugged.

“Are we the only four that will stand up and still fight after the other three-or four- are down?” Xigbar asked crossly.

“Well if Demyx had the hide to stand up and fight, we certainly can” Larxene pouted.

Luxord flicked his cards, and then quickly hid them back in his sleeve, “We will fight, that’s what separates us from the others, we don’t rely solely on Axel.”

“What about Vincent?” Marluxia put in, “He’s turning out to be a better leader and fighter for all of us.”

“Axel’s trying” Larxene spat, “I don’t see you stepping up and doing what he is doing for us.” 

“We don’t know if the Master is on our side or not!” Xigbar barked, shutting both Larxene and Marluxia up. “If you ask me, I think he’s rather focused on the squirt and Axel, AND he is getting quite snippy with Zexion, think he found out the truth?”

“STOP!” Luxord said heatedly, “We can’t trust anybody except ourselves, in a situation like this, there is almost always a traitor among us.”  
He briefly drew a card and revealed the Tarot card of the Hanged Man before it burst into flames.

Instantly, distrust hit the Silhouettes and Larxene stepped away from Marluxia, her green eyes narrowing into slits.  
“Now what” she hissed and Xigbar casually summoned one of his large purple guns and slung it over his shoulder;  
“Easy” he said, looking at each Silhouette individually, “Any of you betray me, I will kill you, without hesitation.”

.,.,.,.,.,.,

Aerith pounded up the stairs with her heart in her throat. The fright had not died from her chest and her worries only began to grow when both supernatural sides living her house stayed grim and worried.  
It was too dangerous to stay in this house, a dark threat was looming and it was unsettling her family. 

They had to leave  
The thought sat ok with Aerith as she slammed open her door and fell to her knees to peer under the bed.  
She pulled out the suitcase and hurriedly began to throw things into it. She had to get her family out; it was for the safety for her boys and the baby she was carrying.  
She heard footsteps come up the stairs and then stop abruptly; she held her breath and gazed out her door expecting to see one of Sora’s ghosts or Roxas’ demons.

Her hands began to shake rather violently and outside the sun disappeared and went behind a cloud.  
Her room became shrouded in darkness and Aerith let a gasp escape her when there was a rush of wind and she saw the blue headed demon she saw before. It stood at the entrance of her door with malicious yellow eyes and dripping fangs.

It laughed, a rough chuckle escaping its vile mouth before there was a large bang and Aerith saw a large, red clad demon appear.  
A clawed hand struck through the blue monster and Aerith heard the larger demon say to her; “Get out, get out now.”

Aerith panicked and she stumbled to her feet. Where was she supposed to go?  
The red Silhouette yanked the other one away with blood flying everywhere and as Aerith went to run, she felt a presence loom behind her.

Her legs felt like jelly beneath her and she heard the protest of the other Silhouette, “You planned this all along didn’t you?” there was a barking laugh in return and Aerith spun around, her hair swinging around hitting something as she did.

A scream erupted from her and she saw a large silver haired demon behind her with menacing amber eyes. His hands slunk out and he said in a mock gracious voice,  
“My, My.”

His voice dark and thick and he smiled cruelly; “My lovely, beautiful Aerith, you are coming with me, I am in dire need of your help.”

He grabbed Aerith’s hands and clasped them in his own and brought them to his chest. He glared down at her with livid, evil gaze before the darkness began to swirl up around them.

“No” Aerith breathed, trying to yank her hands away. “No! Leave me alone!”  
Tears began to slide down her cheeks and she feared that she would be killed.  
Was this the monster that everybody was so anxious about?

She tried to pull away only to fall back against the demon uselessly with her hands clamped in the inexorable grip. The shadows slid up her legs and began to engulf the two. There was nothing she could do.

She craned her neck to see the blue demon roar out in laughter despite the large hole in his chest and disappear.  
She saw other Silhouettes next to the red one, Marluxia, one of them. He yelled out in horror and tried to lurch forward only to be stopped by two others.  
They were panicked.

Without a word, Aerith let a tear fall from her chin.  
Before the crystal droplet hit the ground, Aerith and Xemnas had gone.

*****


	28. Vehemence

“Mum!”

Roxas jerked up so fast that it made his head spin.  
Colours danced before him and he groaned and looked around his room until his swimming head came to a stop. Taking in a few deep breaths to calm the nausea, the blonde looked around and saw Axel stirring as well.

With desperation filling him, Roxas shook Axel and said in frightened voice, “Axel, something wrong. I can feel it.”  
The red head Silhouette mumbled incoherently, then his eyes flew open and he sat up on the bed and pulled his cloak sleeve up.

Veins of black ran up it and a savage bite mark marred the otherwise flawless skin. Axel grimaced and he pulled out Roxas’ arm without a word and saw it equally blackened.   
His eyes narrowed and Roxas whispered, “Something is _wrong_ , we need to go downstairs.”

He flung his legs over the side of the bed and hauled himself up and Axel followed suit with no words that made the blonde somewhat uncomfortable. Together, the two opened Roxas’ door and was greeted by an icy blast of wind.

And Silence.

Roxas felt the hairs prickle at the back of his neck and Axel finally whispered behind him. “It doesn’t feel right, something has happened. You were right Roxas.”   
He pushed him forward and Axel began to walk down the hall, his senses flaring out.  
Roxas scurried on behind, his arm dead, he tried to move it but found himself being drained when he did so.

Struggling to stay upright, Roxas trudged on behind Axel. When they reached Sora’s door, Roxas broke away from the Pyro and pushed open his brother’s door. It was empty and Roxas felt a bad feeling burning his stomach.

He turned to the stairs and went to run down them, Axel grabbed his arm and hissed in a low voice.   
“Don’t be an idiot, this could be a trap and you could walk right into it.”  
He pushed his way in front of Roxas and peered down the stairs and Roxas peeked out from behind the black cloak.

There wasn’t a breath of life in the house and Roxas began to feel more and more scared. Where was his family, the Spirits or the rest of the Silhouettes? He recalled Demyx and Zexion being wiped out when Saix attacked.

Roxas froze what if Saix had destroyed everybody? If Vincent wasn’t able to stop the berserker? There would be mayhem, Axel and Roxas would be alone in a world that looked uncertain.

Axel strode down the stairs with his good arm flaring and flames illuminating the darkness around them.  
Roxas was unsure and felt pathetic, he was a lowly human and he couldn’t do a shred of anything to help if they were attacked by Saix or even worse, Xemnas. 

It was pitch black downstairs, it was night and the light Axel gave off was the only source of light they had. It just gave the house a creepier feel to it, it was freezing cold and within moments, Roxas found himself shivering.

They reached the kitchen and the silvery light from the moon shone into the entrance hall. The kitchen was still a mess, lounges were upturned. The door was blown from its hinges and every window was smashed.  
Glass littered the floor illuminating every shard in the light. On the floor, Roxas was horrified to see blood.

It was dark with age and among the shades of maroon and brown, the Silhouette and the blonde were able to see drops of silver in between as well. Axel went over the window where the entire pane was coated in the oozing silver mass and whispered hesitantly: “The Spirits were harmed; they have been torn from the house along with the rest.”

Roxas whimpered and hugged himself, his arms proving to be a weak form of comfort. “What do you think happened?” he whispered and Axel stood up, his green eyes flashing. “I have no idea, but we are not safe.”

Roxas started to tremble, “Where can we go? How can we find the others?”   
Axel shook his vivid red spikes and lifted his gloved hand to the air, “Just give me some time and I will think of a plan.”

He dragged his fingers down in mid-air, tearing a misty veil coating the human world. Gold dust illuminated the room, fighting with the silver. It dropped to the ground and Axel said grimly, “For now, we come here.”

Roxas nodded and he pushed the veil aside and there was a bright light as Axel and Roxas stepped into the ‘In Between’.   
Something had indeed gone terribly wrong and they were the only ones free to help the others, whatever had happened to them.

*****

**Earlier that day**

“What do we do?” Marluxia said desperately, “Xemnas stole Aerith right from under our noses, _why_ did you hold me back?”  
The pink haired Silhouette stared at the Master Silhouette Vincent in disdain before Xigbar spoke darkly, “She was holding his _hands_ you fool, she betrayed us!”

“That’s not true!” Sora yelled and Riku folded his arms next to him, “Aerith was very much afraid of Xemnas just as much as we are. He took her for a reason.”  
Sora scowled, “He needs to get to Roxas and when he gets Roxas, he has Axel as well.”

“He is launching the full attack _tomorrow night_ guys” Larxene said heatedly, “He has thrown us off track, making us foolish. We are terrified and uncoordinated now; if you have forgotten, we have lost Zexion, Demyx, Roxas and Axel. Three Silhouettes that are our strongest- well not so much Demyx, but Zexion, our Master Magician and Axel; Our _Leader.”_

“I say we leave” Vexen said icily from next to the lumbering figure of Lexaeus. “We have no hope of ever defeating them, they killed us once and they are perfectly capable of killing us again.”  
He flicked his platinum blonde over his shoulder and Xaldin sent a gust of wind towards the cold man.

“We want to be free, if we simply run away, he will hunt us down. He has our hearts, we can’t simply _leave.”_ The dreadlocked man sent a cool gaze to the silent Master, “What do you propose we do? You are the only other Silhouette besides Axel who can fend off Saix and a vague idea to attack Xemnas.”

Vincent looked up with his red eyes dangerous, “I have no idea of yet but I am thinking Xemnas is hiding within Twilight Town. He is strong, but he is nowhere as strong as he used to be. Teleporting that woman would have drained him; we have a chance to strike back.”

From the ground beside the Silhouettes, the silent figure of Cloud began to stir and get up to his hands groaning; “What happened.” He began to struggle to his feet and as quick as lightning, Xigbar summoned one his massive arrow guns and clocked Cloud on the back of the head.

Cloud fell down back into a heap and Marluxia whispered to the fierce gunman, _“Do you have to keep doing that? You could kill him if you do again.”_  
Xigbar shrugged, “If I hit him enough, he might forget this whole dilemma.”  
Marluxia scowled, “If you hit him enough he might forget he ever had a family.”

Sora shook his head, “We need to think of something before tomorrow night, I’m guessing being here is giving Xemnas the upper hand. He knows this place better than any of you.”  
Riku nodded and Naminé whispered from behind the two, “Most of his power is based here as well. If we can lure him away from his source of power it might give us a chance if we fight physically.”

“You got a point,” a new voice said. “But how are we going to lure Xemnas away when only half of us can leave?”

The Spirits and the Silhouettes turned to the stairs and at the entrance stood a scowling, un-amused Zexion and a white, panicky Demyx.   
Larxene smiled, “Good going poindexter, how will we get the Spirits out of here?”

“You can’t” interjected Kairi looking sour, “It’s impossible unless you mean to cause physical harm to us all.”  
A frustrated silence fell upon everybody until Zexion retorted, “Where are Axel and Roxas?”

Sora gazed to the Schemer and said heatedly, “They were attacked after you and Demyx passed out. Axel was bitten and poisoned, Roxas fell unconscious just as he did and they haven’t woken up since.”

Demyx bit his lip and the violet haired Silhouette spun around on his heels and made his way back up the stairs. He looked around briefly to glare hatefully at Vincent, “I know you intend to betray us, if you won’t give information of the powers of the ‘In Between’ I’m sure Axel will.”

Demyx hurried after Zexion and Sora followed suit with Naminé and Larxene. Marluxia followed and they congregated in the hall outside of Roxas’ wooden door.   
“They are hurt” Naminé whispered to the Schemer, “you don’t know what will happen if you wake them up.”

Zexion blew the blonde off and reached for the golden door handle and hissed, “We cannot have a fight without these two. Roxas may seem useless to you all but he is a crucial tool in bringing down Xemnas.”

He grabbed the door handle and a bright light illuminated underneath it. Gold dust fell upon his shoulders and Zexion was blown back against the opposite wall. Demyx yelped and jumped back from the door and went to help a dumbstruck Zexion up. 

Sora gazed at Naminé, turned back around, and exclaimed in shock, “What happened? Was that normal?”

Zexion groaned and staggered to his feet and hissed, “Impossible.” He strode back to the door and Sora was certain that Zexion was going to go for the door handle again. Instead, Zexion placed his hand about an inch away from the door.  
His whole hand went gold and a golden barrier appeared.

It covered the entire door, golden dust swirled around it and Zexion’s hand was blocked when he tried to push against it. It was shielding the door and prevented entry. Zexion cursed and the voice of Vincent came from the top of the stairs.

“They are being protected by the magic of the In Between, Axel may have ignited the magical barriers when he passed out. You will not be able to get in the bedroom until they wake up.”

Demyx pouted and in a wavering voice he said, “Why couldn’t we be in the room with them? Then if Xemnas came back we would be safe.” His large oceanic eyes were large with fright, Larxene folded her arms, and sighed, “What else is there to do Zexion?”

Zexion rested his fingers upon his chin and summoned his large Lexicon. He gazed down to the pages and muttered, “There isn’t much I can do Larxene, any blocking spell I would put up would be counteracted by Xemnas. He isn’t as strong as he used to be, but it would give me a run for my money.”

“Then we have to get stronger” Demyx retorted.  
At his statement, he was instantly shot down by Larxene.  
“How are we going to get stronger in a day you twit? We all were knocked down by his dog! We have no chance against Xemnas.”

Zexion gazed at Larxene balefully; “At least he is trying to make a grim situation seem a little lighter, I will tell you something. It is our fear that stops us; we have no other choice but to get stronger.”

Vincent spun around; “It would be wise to listen to Zexion, but like most assumptions, they can always change.” He started down the stairs, “We don’t have time to stand around, this fight is imminent. Do not make me think that I have made the wrong choice in supporting you all.”

He disappeared down the stairs and Zexion gazed after him darkly. He saw Larxene and Marluxia gaze at him inquiringly and he spat in disdain, “He is trying to gain our trust. He is just a manipulator, all he wants-is-Axel-and-Roxas.”

Sora gazed to Naminé with his mouth quirked to the side in confusion. The hostility between two crucial Silhouettes was making the others uneasy. Vincent had said the fight was imminent yet, everything was in discord.

Naminé sighed and shrugged. Her blue eyes looked huge; the large black rings around her eyes made her face more depressing. She looked gut-wrenchingly sad and Sora whispered; “I’m stumped, what a human is supposed to do in a Supernatural world?”

He looked back to the Silhouettes, Zexion put away his Lexicon and Demyx looked at the golden barrier on the door touching it lightly with his index finger. Marluxia and Larxene looked at each other with large, scared eyes.

Sora felt Naminé’s light touch on his arm and whispered, “Sora, the airs changed, it’s only very slight, but there’s something wrong.”  
Her transparent fingers trembled and pointed to the end of the hall. 

Sora was amazed; Naminé was able to sense the slight changes in the air. The Silhouettes were so frayed and worried they couldn’t sense anything.  
Naminé sucked in a sharp breath and Sora saw shadows sneaking up the wall behind Demyx.

Alarmed; Sora cried out. “Guys, look out!”

He threw himself in front of Naminé just as the shadows darted from the wall and wrapped around Demyx and then Marluxia.  
There were cries of shock and down the stairs, there was a commotion and large ‘thwump’ sounds.   
Demyx was intertwined in large black shadows and he flew down the hall and was pinned up against the wall. The shadows began to tighten and Marluxia’s arms were tied to wall and he cried out, “Larxene! Naminé! Just get out of here.”

Zexion turned a deep red shade and he thrust out his hand. More shadows erupted out and combated the shadows choking Demyx. The shadows clashed together and blue smoke began to fill the hall.

Sora grabbed Naminé and they ran down the stairs. They received a shock when they saw the looming figure of Xemnas standing in the center of the living room. Saix jumped through the shattered front window and gazed viciously at Sora.  
“I’m back!” he chuckled.

Sora grabbed Naminé and he looked around frantically for somewhere to escape.  
The Silhouettes and the Spirits were all in turmoil. 

There was a large bang and more shadow erupted out from the entrance of the stairs.   
Zexion had a grim look on his face and he was intent on attacking Xemnas.   
Demyx cowered behind him with a terrified look on his face and from behind them; the pink haired Silhouette Marluxia ran forward brandishing his large pink scythe.

“Marluxia!” this was Larxene screaming.

Marluxia bravely made a beeline to Xemnas, his scythe made a whizzing noise through the air and the curved part made its way right to cut the evil Silhouette in half.   
Within a heartbeat, Xemnas had flung out his hand. 

It moved in slow motion, there was a high metallic screech. Marluxia had his scythe extended towards Xemnas who had his hand out. There was a snap and in a bright flash of light, Marluxia’s scythe snapped.  
Marluxia faltered his face full of horror.  
Xemnas knocked the remaining pole out of the Silhouettes hands and shoved his hand through Marluxia’s chest.

Dark blood spattered everywhere and Larxene shrieked “Marly! NO!”  
Six individual knives flew towards Xemnas sparking with electricity. The silver haired Silhouette disintegrated them within moments and Larxene was flung across the room by an invisible force.

Xemnas looked to Saix and snarled; “Get the two I want.”  
Saix bowed his head briefly, refusing to look at Xemnas and bounded for the stairs.   
He pushed Zexion aside and knocked Demyx flat on his backside. He disappeared up the stairs and Xemnas looked around to the terrified of the Silhouettes and Spirits.

“Who’s next?”

*****

Saix skidded to halt in front of the bedroom door leaving gauge marks in the floorboards. His large black claws raked against the door, but when nothing happened Saix snarled. He threw himself at the door; he saw golden dust fall about him and next thing he was electrocuted.  
Saix fell back in shock and saw the golden door. But unlike Zexion, he went again.  
The barrier shuddered behind his immense strength but it held against the Mongrel. Golden projectiles flew from the barrier and embedded themselves in his body.  
Blood quickly covered Saix who grew more and more frustrated.  
He yelled out in anger but before he could react again, the whole golden wall convulsed and a huge plume of golden fire erupted and enveloped the blue haired Silhouette.  
There was a roar of shock and pain and at that:  
The wall had won against the Mongrel Silhouette.

*****

Xigbar jumped aside and purple projectiles streamed out towards Xemnas. He wasn’t able to deflect them all but the ones that did hit him simply scratched and scuffed up his cloak. The Silhouettes weren’t getting anywhere.

Sora ran for the door pulling Naminé and Kairi behind him. Both girls screamed and yanked back. Their actions caught the attention of Xemnas who chuckled darkly, “Trying to escape are we?”

He took one step towards the trio and there was an icy gust of wind. Riku and the black haired Spirit Zack jumped at Xemnas brandishing two very different swords. Zack slashed accurately and amazingly, down Xemnas’ chest only to stumble back and see his cloak hardly cut.  
A trail of ice appeared down Zack's cut and even then, Xemnas was unaffected.

Riku appeared above him and sliced down. Xemnas simply held up his arm and there was an immense gust of wind that reverberated from the attack. Riku’s dark sword had hit Xemnas’ arm; black and red sparks and fire erupted from the sword and it smashed every other window in the vicinity of the lower story of the house.

Riku was hit back and Xemnas lowered his arm and laughed evilly. “Nothing you do can harm-.”

Xemnas suddenly stopped and he saw his cloak sleeve cut and a thin welt appeared on his arm and dark blood appeared. It ran down his arm and dropped to the floor.   
Xemnas’ amber eyes looked livid; he stared at everybody in the room that had fallen deathly quiet.

His free arm shot out and gripped Riku by the throat. There was a strangled gasp and Naminé’s high shriek pierced the silent air. “RIKU!”

Xemnas still held Riku, who desperately tried to pry the Silhouettes fingers off his neck but failing miserably. The cruel Silhouette walked towards the door and Kairi let out a horrified squeak, “No!”

Riku began to kick and flail but Xemnas kept his grip firm. He strode to the door and walked out onto the balcony. There was a moment of silence before there was a loud cry of agony. Silver spurted everywhere and Riku disappeared.  
He misted from Xemnas’ grip and he shouted back inside the house, “Who wants to come quietly? Or you shall you _all_ be forced out like this.”

There was no way that any others wanted to go down without a fight.   
Zexion shouted an incantation and blue manifested around him. It all shot towards Xemnas and bound him.

“Run” the Schemer demanded.

“No!” Xigbar shot back, “I am fighting for my freedom, I am not going down without a fight.”  
“Same.” There was a wobbly voice that joined and from the rubble of the kitchen, Larxene rose to her feet, blood running down her face. “I want to be free, even if that means I die.”

The Silhouettes all stood up with grim faces refusing to back down. They all formed a line all looking battered.   
From behind Sora, Naminé was the first Spirit to stand up and say in a quavering voice. “End this torment; I shall fight until my last breath.”

It was the courage of both sides as they stood up to Xemnas.

The frightening Silhouettes gaze hardened and he said through clenched teeth, “Then you are all signing your death warrant.”

He drew his hand out and clenched it into a fist and the closest person he got was the Spirit Kairi.   
She writhed in the black tendrils and cried out trying to pull away. Her feet scraped against the wooden floorboards with sickening scratching noises.   
Zack darted out and tried to grab Kairi but Xemnas let a sinister laugh escape him and Zack crashed in the opposite wall with Xemnas’ shadows rushing around him.

Zexion hefted his lexicon up and shouted another incantation. The speed of the spell caught Xemnas off guard and golden light curled around his wrists and bound them to his side.

Zack fell to the floor and Kairi pulled away from the black tendrils and went to run to the opposite side of the room.  
That was before there was a deafening roar.  
Saix lunged from the shadows, fangs bared and dripping. He collided with the Illusionist sinking his fangs into Zexion’s shoulder.

There was a cry of pain and the Lexicon dropped to the floorboards with a loud ‘thump’. In the shadows between the fighting two, Demyx cowered back into the shadows and whimpered... misting away.

Xigbar shot several projectiles towards Saix; they all hit quite successfully, embedding themselves in the berserkers body. Instead of felling the monster, it only pissed him off.

He raised his head from Zexion with dark blood decorating his mouth. He snarled and dropped the violet haired Schemer and stalked the free shooter. 

Xemnas chuckled, “Don’t kill them Saix, I want them all alive.”

*****

“The fight is imminent” Vincent scowled into the shadows.  
“This is the one and only chance we will get to kill Xemnas and his deplorable ‘pet.'

“Don’t be brash Vincent” a smooth woman’s voice came out; “You may be a Master but you can’t just run into these sort of fights and win right off the bat. Xemnas knows us, he knows our powers.”

“Exactly” the hard, dark voice of the Head Master echoed throughout the hall. “Xemnas is focusing on the two that we want.”  
There was the noise of grating steel and a large sword manifested out and held itself steady at Vincent’s throat.   
“Get those two first; bring them to me, and if you do this simple mission, I may find you worthy of our help to bring down Xemnas.”

Vincent knocked the sword away with his gauntlet hand. “The rules went that Three Masters decided and ruled the shadowed world of the Silhouettes. Not One.”

The red clad Master stood back, “Now you have wasted my time, I need to get back to the human world before Xemnas attacks those defenseless Silhouettes.” There was a void of swirling black and Vincent disappeared.

*****

“What are you doing here?” Axel snapped as he and Roxas stepped into the green lit cavern. 

Vincent turned around and his red eyes narrowed, “You two are up?”  
His cloak billowed out behind him in a slight, ominous breeze. “When did you two finally wake up?”

Axel kept Roxas behind him protectively and snapped angrily, “About ten minutes ago actually. Where the hell have you been?”

Vincent scowled at Axel’s rudeness, but the Master knew that something had agitated the Pyro Silhouette. The red head wouldn’t be shielding the small frail human from him if something had not gone wrong.

“I had been summoned by the other two Masters for duty,” Vincent said darkly. “It is none of your business.”

“To hell it is my business” Axel shouted, flames roaring up the walls of the cave. “I wake up to an empty house, none of my family in it, No Spirits, No Silhouettes, No Humans.”  
He stepped forward, “I thought I trusted you to take care of them when I was down.”

His voice faltered “Unless.”  
Axel stepped back and shielded Roxas again, “You had the others killed to get us?”

“What!” Roxas squawked; “What do I have to do with anything? My whole family is gone. Are we going to die Axel?”  
His voice went from alarmed to frightened within moments. He frowned slightly when he didn’t receive an answer from Axel.

The Pyro’s gaze was hard on Vincent. “Zexion was right about you the entire time. You got us to trust you, but you only wanted Roxas and I.”

He stepped back forcing the human behind him to step back as well. “You didn’t give a flying fuck about the rest of us.”

Betrayal and hurt flashed across the Pyro’s face and for once in his second long life, Axel had no idea what to do. His family was gone, everything he knew. He had played right into Vincent’s hands and he endangered Roxas’ life as well.

“Axel” Vincent said, urging the red head to look at him, “Axel look at me.”

Axel refused and he looked down to a terrified looking Roxas; “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, “I failed you Roxas.”  
The blonde’s eyes filled with tears, “What do we do now?”

Axel shook his head, lost. What were they supposed to do now?  
Unable to be in the last safe place in the world, Axel said in a choked voice, “We have to get out of here.”

He dragged Roxas from the cave ignoring Vincent’s shouts of protest and flung out his hands. Golden dust erupted from the Silhouettes hands and forcibly ripped an opening back into the human world.  
The darkness before them illuminated with golden light before falling dark again and Axel nearly threw the small blonde out. 

With one last look behind him, Axel snarled vehemently; “When I kill Xemnas, I’m coming back to kill you.”


	29. Fold

“What do we do?”

Roxas stumbled back into the dark hall of his shattered house, his head in an absolute turmoil. 

“Vincent betrayed us, lied to us from the start! My whole family is gone, not to mention both the Silhouettes and the Spirits, _which I remind you, cannot leave the house.”_  
His voice pitched into higher octaves as he grew more panicked.  
“Xemnas is going to come back and kill us, no; I will rephrase that, he will _pulverise_ us!”

“Roxas, Shut up!” Axel said crossly as he shut the veil to the ‘In Between’ by slamming it shut in a cloud of golden dust.  
“You have a knack of stating the obvious don’t you? I can see exactly what’s going on here.”

“You really don’t seem to care about it though,” Roxas cried back. “You’re all so bravery and courage won’t get us anywhere when the whole world is against us.” 

“You don’t know what it’s like to have the world against you,” Axel shouted at Roxas savagely. “I have had it for over a hundred years Roxas, don’t you start on how you feel so hard done by.”

Roxas grew livid before a shouting match erupted out through the deserted house, “Hard done by? Axel, I’m fucking terrified of what is going to happen to us. I am only seventeen, what am I supposed to do?”

“Shut up for one?” Axel snarled, “All you are doing is making it worse for me to think! Just shut your trap.”

“Make me” Roxas shot back, “You think you are all high and mighty because you are a Silhouette! Does it make you feel better ‘cause you know you’re better than a human?”

“I am not high and mighty! I am not proud of being what I am Roxas, I would trade places with you any day.” Axel was red in the face, his jade eyes flashing angrily. He spun around with a ‘whoosh’ of his black cloak before letting his fist hit the wall.  
The whole house shuddered with the impact.

Roxas took a step back and averted his gaze from the Pyro. The anger and the hurt pummeled his chest and he found it hard to breathe. The last sentence had hit home. There was really no reason to fight but both the human and the Silhouette were scared and stressed.  
Shouting just made them vent their anger, but things that were said could never be taken back.

 

“Axel? Roxas?”

Both the human and the Silhouette jumped when they heard their names. From the shadows, there was a rustle and a figure manifested from the darkness.

The relief was evident in both voices.  
“Demyx.”

Roxas ran over as the musician stumbled to his feet. His large blue eyes were troubled and afraid.  
Roxas raced at his friend and embraced him crying out, “What the hell happened? Where’s Zexion?”

As the young human pulled away, Demyx looked around the demolished house and muttered brokenly; “Xemnas a-and Saix, they came to get you two, but you were protected.”  
He shuddered in the silver light of the night.  
“Xemnas slaughtered the Spirits, he forced them out of the house, Saix attacked Zexion and once Zexion was down everybody else began to fall as well.”

Demyx was in a daze and before Roxas could say anything, a flaming fist came out and clobbered Demyx upside the head.  
Demyx fell against the stairs with a surprised cry and Roxas shouted angrily; “What the fuck has gotten into you?”

Axel was furious, “You coward, you ran away when everybody needed each other the most. You left all of them to the hands of that bastard Xemnas.”  
He hit Demyx again, the rage emanating from him. It warmed the cold room up.

“Axel!” Roxas shouted; “Axel stop, you don’t have to hit him.”  
He grabbed Axel’s cloak, “Axel- STOP.” He pushed the Pyro away and said in a heated voice, “We have to stick together, if Demyx is here alive, that means Zex must be alive as well. We have a chance.”

Axel looked pissed and Demyx had his hand over his mouth and nose; dark black/red blood dripping between his fingertips.

Roxas’ way of dealing with anger proved to be a better way than Axel’s method. “Demyx” he urged “I know your hurting and we are all terrified. But are you able to trace to where Zexion is?”

Demyx pilled his hand away and smeared blood across his cheek as he did so. He narrowed his eyes for a moment then whispered, “Yeah I’m sure, I can do this.”

Roxas shot a disdainful glance to Axel before saying. “We don’t have time, Xemnas will attack tonight, I bet he took the others so we are easier to pick off when we are alone.”

“He’s set a trap” Axel said bluntly “Isn’t it obvious? He took everyone knowing that we would come and find them.”

“But we don’t know where they are” Roxas countered, “Xemnas left nothing behind to trace him and by the time he realised he was down a Silhouette it would be too late.”

“You may be right there Rox” Demyx said, “All he was worried about was to get everyone in the house. Because he stole Aerith first. He wanted to do something that involved Aerith first.”

“My mum?” Roxas sounded concerned, “Well he was probably coming back for us.”  
Demyx crunched over to a broken window. “It’s nearly dawn. Guys we have to leave before somebody comes here to finish of the rest of us and Zexion’s trace is getting weaker.”  
He looked around, “Where’s Vincent? I honestly thought that he would have come to save us.”

Axel scowled “He betrayed us.”  
Demyx fell silent and Axel went on gruffly “Well let’s go, up front Dem, where I can see you.”

Demyx nodded mutely and Axel reached out his hand to Roxas, “You ready for a rough ride?”  
Roxas took the offered hand without a word and the abrupt darkness that consumed him was almost suffocating.

*****

“You won’t get a word from me.”

_‘Thwack’_

Larxene cringed, clenching her eyes shut. There was another _thwack_ sound before there was a distraught voice, “Leave him alone, you _animal.”_  
Saix looked up with red fangs, left the bloody, battered form of Marluxia, and turned to the cowering form of Aerith.

“What are you going to do about it? _Human!”_ Saix roared at her.  
Aerith had terrified tears trailing down her face but she said in a wavering voice; “There is no point in torturing everybody when it’s me you want.”

“No!” Sora howled, “Mum you don’t know this mongrel, don’t do anything stupid around him.” The brunette fought against the shadows that bound him to the wall. “Get yourself together Marluxia,” he shouted to the limp form of the Silhouette, “You can’t give up.”

Saix bounded over to Sora and snarled, “Do you want to die? Just like your Spirit friends? Do you?”  
Sora looked boldly up at the mongrel Silhouette then spat at his feet, “They aren’t dead!” he growled.  
Saix bent down and caught Sora around the neck, a growl rumbling in his chest. “NO!” Aerith screamed yanking on her own chains. “Let my son go!”

Saix hefted Sora up from the cold, wet stones and hit him against the wall. “Everyone you know is better off dead. I will tell you what; I will make you a deal. Let me kill you. It will be quick and painless. Xemnas has everything planned out for you all to die a long torturous death.”

Sora kicked Saix in the gut, he was dropped back onto the stone and Saix landed a heavy kick into Sora’s chest.  
Sora coughed and his cheeks puffed out before blood erupted from his mouth splattering everything around him and started to dribble down his chin.

Immediately all the Silhouettes, who were crucified on the walls by the shadows stirred and Larxene warned dangerously; “Don’t-you-dare!”  
Before Saix could continue with his torturing, the air became ominous and cold. Everyone went quiet as Xemnas appeared looking outraged.

He grabbed Saix by the head and pushed it against the solid stonewall with a resonating ‘crack’.  
His voice was deathly calm, which made him sound all the more terrifying. “Look around you Saix” he said “Count the blasted vermin.”

Saix looked astounded but his yellow eyes scanned the Silhouettes, “I-I don’t-” he began, before Xemnas pulled Saix’s head back and smashed it back into the wall.

“WE’RE MISSING ONE” Xemnas roared, all eerie calm; gone.

“W-We were always m-missing Axel, Master.”

Xemnas ground his teeth before he growled, “Besides Axel you worthless MUTT, the WATER MAGE.”  
He threw Saix clean across the room, who hit the wall with a ‘bang’ and fell beside Aerith who screamed and clutched the leg of Marluxia who hung up on the wall beside her. 

Xemnas swept up to Zexion who eyed him hatefully.  
“You knew he escaped; didn’t you?” Xemnas sneered “Thought you could be clever and hide the bastard.”

Zexion coldly answered “It worked didn’t it?”

Xemnas lost his temper before he sliced Zexion with four long claws. There was a spatter of blood that fell onto the stone and Larxene cried, “No Zexion!”

Xemnas spun around, “If that Mage traces that bastard back here, he could bring along that Master before I have done my experiment.”  
Xemnas scowled and spun around and shouted to everyone in the room.  
“One last thing” he shouted “If I see that blonde human and Axel.”  
He stood straight and growled “If I so much as see them, you will _all_ die.”

*****

As the sun hit the sky and illuminated the earth was when Demyx halted. Axel manifested next to him and Roxas looked behind them and muttered “We aren’t even in Twilight Town anymore.”

“We’re far from it” Demyx muttered “How could Xemnas take them so far?”

Axel nodded in agreement and looked back to the musician who closed his eyes and let the morning breeze ruffle his hair.  
After a moment, his large ocean eyes re-opened and he shook his head, turned around, and began to walk.

“Uh Demyx?” Roxas enquired, “Dem, we came that way about two minutes ago.” The Mage spun around with a confused gaze on his face. “It’s changing now; it’s going all over the place.”

Axel looked up at the dawning sky “Its Xemnas! What the hell is he doing? He doesn’t have the strength to keep teleporting everyone around.”

“We don’t have a chance do we?” Roxas asked just as Axel said “Maybe he is just toying with us?”

Demyx pursed his lips then said over the banter. “Shut up you guys, let me concentrate.” He shut his eyes; he didn’t see Axel and Roxas look at each other and roll their eyes.

The sun rose, shining golden light around the trio, diminishing the shadows from where they came from Twilight Town. Around them, life bloomed. Small animals and birds woke from their slumber and began to prance and run.

Roxas smiled at the ridiculous antics of the birds and animals. He looked back to Axel and his smile vanished. The Silhouette looked dark and jealous at the life around him. The sun illuminated the Pyro and as Roxas looked down at the grass, he saw that the Silhouettes didn’t even have a shadow.

In life, they didn’t even exist.

Roxas opened his mouth ready to say something, but before he had the chance to speak, Demyx piped up; “Hey I got a connection with Zexion, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

Axel left Roxas, strode to Demyx, and barked “Well? Come on then, just talk already!” His red hair bristled in a soft morning breeze and his emerald eyes flashed dangerously. He was losing his temper and Roxas knew not to interfere. 

Demyx bit his lip then said in an abrupt voice, “Zex said we are running around in circles, he’s really beat up but he said we have to go back to the house.” 

“What?” Axel yelled “Demyx, there are no shadows. Are you aware that we have to walk back to Twilight Town?” He stood over the Water Mage and Demyx shouted defiantly “At least I’m trying to _help!_ You getting angry won’t help anything.”  
The Silhouettes were face to face until Axel turned his head and saw Roxas walking over the grass and over the hill.

“Hey!” he shouted “Roxas where the hell-”

Before he could finish, Roxas called back over his shoulder. “We don’t have all day, if we stand around fighting no-one will get saved.” He kept walking and Axel hissed to Demyx; “Your lucky Roxas has his head screwed on, otherwise I would have pounded you into your next life.” 

Demyx stuck his tongue out and Axel pushed him roughly before walking after Roxas. The Water Silhouette frowned and walked forward leaving misty droplets behind. When he got further away, the mist darted back to him and disappeared.

“Man, I hate walking” Axel grumbled “Silhouettes aren’t meant to walk.” He kept behind Roxas, who glanced behind him. Axel almost seemed to be disappearing. His outline going misty, he seemed to be shrouded in shadowy black fire and behind Axel; Demyx seemed to be surrounded by dark rippling water.

Roxas looked back to the front and glanced down to his hands. They shone and sparkled in the light and shined with vivid golden light. He clenched his fist into a ball and through the intense light; he saw a faint shape of a key protruding from his hand. Unable to fathom what it was, Roxas shook his fist and continued to walk up the green slopes, wondering what could happen to his family and friends.

And what he had, could he do it?

*****

_“Zexion?”_ Demyx’s voice sounded weary and small.  
The Schemer struggled to stay conscious. He had lost a lot of blood and he was close to blacking out.

He couldn’t risk it, Axel and Roxas were with Demyx, but if they came looking; everyone being held captive would be killed. But if they didn’t come, Xemnas would torture Aerith, capture, hurt and possibly kill Axel and Roxas, then kill everybody anyway.  
So it was a lose/lose situation. Where in the end; everyone lost anyway.

_“Demyx!”_ Zexion said tiredly _“Where are you?”_

_“We are going back to Twilight Town. The suns out so we have to walk. Axel isn’t happy with me and Roxas isn’t talking to neither of us. He’s so worried!”_

_“We can’t have them fighting Demyx”_ Zexion said tersely _“We need to have them co-operating at the least.”_ He was losing concentration; _“Listen to me Demyx, get back to the house, then let me know when you’re there; it’s crucial you have Axel and Roxas together.”_

_“Ok”_ Demyx said before he faded away. 

Zexion sighed; utterly exhausted. He looked around the dark room. His sharp eyes seeing the humans fitfully asleep and the Silhouettes quiet, their life force weak. 

He was the only one awake and partially more alive. He saw Aerith against Marluxia’s leg asleep, the trails of tears leaving stains down her dirty cheeks. 

Sora was on the opposite side of the room, Larxene’s cloak falling on his shoulders, keeping him somewhat protected from the bitter cold. 

Cloud was between the two, under Xigbar. The father had trouble comprehending what Sora had told him. And since no Silhouette was free, Cloud couldn’t receive the sight. So, to him, all he saw was Sora and Aerith and himself chained to the wall. 

In the dim candle light outside the wall, Zexion heard movement followed by the voices that belonged to Xemnas and Saix.  
“They’re all out Master” Saix muttered, “Why are you so concerned about Axel and the runt?” 

Xemnas was cold and angry when he snapped “I would rather capture them after I have finished the vermin off in there, then when Axel outdoes his usefulness, I’ll kill him. But the brat, the human Roxas-.” 

Zexion craned his ears at the mention of Roxas.  
“I have watched him for a while; he has certain qualities that I have not seen before.”  
“Even for- a human-Master?” Saix asked 

Xemnas sounded thoughtful, “Yes, especially a human. But he has associated with the darkness of the Silhouettes. You know, that you can determine a Silhouettes power by the sunlight?” 

Zexion assumed Saix nodded. 

“Roxas is peculiar; he has inherited a Silhouette trait which would certainly fill him with some sort of dark power. However, he has had a reversed effect.” 

“R-reversed?” Saix questioned 

All Xemnas said was grim, “I think we have before us is a Silhouette of light, he would be the first one in existence. But if I have to fight the three Silhouette Masters for him, I will kill him on the spot, so no-one can have him.” 

***** 

Roxas stopped on the hill, Twilight Town lie beyond him. He looked behind him and saw Axel and Demyx stop behind him.  
The Water Mage smiled wearily, despite looking like he had just been hit by a tram.  
“We can travel faster now all we have to do is get back to that house, then we can figure out what we are going to do.” 

Roxas nodded and Axel mumbled something under his breath before reaching out and grabbing Roxas’ arm.  
“Let’s get back to that house.” 

***** 

Roxas looked around the entrance hall and Axel nodded his head in confirmation.  
“It’s clear.” 

_They looked back to Demyx who shut his eyes trying to connect back to Zexion.  
 _“We’re at the house”__ Demyx whispered.  
He grew alarmed when Zexion didn’t answer. 

_“Zexion?”_ he grew panicked but then the link burned to life and Zexion’s exhausted voice came through. _“Demyx”_ he sighed and the Mage was shaky, _“Are you alright? Don’t worry, we are coming to get you; what do you need us to do?”_

Zexion sighed again but he said nonetheless; _“Xemnas controls Nothingness Demyx, he took us to another dimension, parallel to the house. Axel and Roxas can open it- hurry Demyx.”_

The Schemer faded out and Demyx opened his eyes to the Pyro and the fair human. “They are in another dimension; Zex said you two can open it.” 

Axel rolled his eyes “and how do you suggest we do that _genius?”_ he snapped and Demyx shouted back “How am I supposed to know? I’m not firing on all cannons Axel, At least you have Roxas. Zexion is hurt so it’s not my fault I’m not the strongest. You’re lucky I haven’t passed out yet.” 

“Demyx!” Roxas shouted at his friend “I appreciate your help, without you we would have been walking around like headless chooks.” 

Demyx’s eyes flashed with confusion but he didn’t question Roxas’ words. He began to sway on the spot and Roxas darted forward and caught his friend. 

Before Axel could lose his temper and shout to the heavens, there was a dark voice behind them “You of all people should be confident in your abilities Axel.” 

From the house, Vincent came from the shadows and stared ominously at the trio.  
“What do we do” Roxas asked boldly and Vincent turned his blood red eyes on the human and the degrading Water Silhouette on his arm. 

“You two can open a new dimension to a magical realm beyond the human imagination, but can’t open a fold in the real world?” 

“Fold?” Roxas enquired and Vincent swept his cloak up and turned around, “Xemnas has created a fold in our realm, there has to be a visible fold where the scenery changes and doesn’t sit with each other.” 

Roxas nodded and Axel scoffed “So where can we find this ‘fold’? If you’re even telling the truth.”  
“He just told us Axel” Roxas snapped and Axel shouted back “HOW do we find it?” 

“Just close your eyes” Vincent said. Roxas did what he was told, Axel as well, after throwing a disdainful look at the Master Silhouette.  
After a moment of silence, there was the tired voice of Demyx “I see it.” 

“What?” Roxas asked stupidly, he opened his sapphire eyes and Demyx pointed to the fountain; “It’s just there.” 

Vincent stared ahead morosely and both Silhouette and Human saw what Demyx and Vincent were on about. 

Demyx’s fountain seemed normal but at the end, on the side of the fountain. A small stream seemed to be just spurting out the top randomly and disappearing. 

The trees in the background seemed to be cut in half as well. Two different trees cut in half and clumsily put back together to make the image of an odd tree.  
A fold in the dimension, taking part of the world away as it folded in on itself. 

Axel strode forward and his sharp jade eyes searched the shimmering fold before snapping, “I see the seam, do I just try to open the veil?”  
A nod from Vincent confirmed it. 

The Pyro Silhouette turned back and he thought to himself grimly , _‘how would they cope if the others are already gone?’_  
He banished the thought and raised his hand. 

“Here goes” he breathed and he sliced his fingers down grabbing a white veil in his hands. 


	30. When it's all Over

The dimension was dark and eerie as the Silhouettes and the Human stepped through the fold in the real world.

They were plunged into darkness with very little light and the copper smell of blood was overpowering.

Demyx wobbled off Roxas' arm who took the opportunity to peek behind the stone wall that was in front of them. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and the cried were instantaneous.

 **“Roxas!"**

The blonde was overwhelmed with the sight of his family and friends, the Silhouettes crucified to the wall and his family chained on the floor. Anger bubbled to life inside him and the first person he ran over to was his mother.

“Mum!” he cried.  
Aerith reached her arms out and embraced her son tightly with tears rolling down her face. “Oh honey!” she gasped, “My baby! Are you ok? Are you hurt?  
Roxas yanked on his mother’s chains “I'm going to get you out of here Mum, I'll keep you safe.” His large sapphire eyes were full of angry determination and Aerith let another tear roll down her cheek and she whispered “My little hero.”

From around the room there were choruses of relief and fear. Demyx hobbled as fast as he could over to Zexion.  
“Zex!” he cried running to his partner “Oh Zexion I'm so sorry I didn’t find you sooner!” his large ocean eyes were sad before he managed a small, tired smile; “You look like shit Zexion.”

Zexion looked down to Demyx and managed a very rare, small smile “I can say the same about you Demyx.”

Axel strode in and went to Aerith first and snapped her chains like thread, he released Marluxia and Larxene afterwards and said angrily “Where is the bastard? I'm gunna kill him with my own hands!”

“I will be the one to kill him” Vincent said striding in. “Xemnas had defied all the rules set down by the Three Silhouette Masters. He has eluded me for far too long and he stepped the line creating and torturing you Silhouettes.”

He waved his hands and a ripple of power fell across the room and all the Silhouettes still up on the wall dropped back to earth.  
Sora threw his chains back onto the stone with rattling ‘clangs’ and ran to his brother and seized him up in a desperate hug.  
“Oh you dork” he breathed “I was so worried for you.” He looked up at Axel and said though a shaky laugh “I was even worried for you, Silhouette or not; we are all in this together.”

Roxas helped Aerith up and he said to everybody who had congregated around.  
“We can’t stay here, Xemnas and Saix will be due back any second, we have to get out.” He pulled his mother to the door. “Come on everyone.”

Axel looked at Roxas before looking back at the rest of the Silhouettes.  
“Come on” he said gruffly “You heard him.” He walked out after Roxas and a murmur swept through the Silhouettes and they began to mist after the Leaders of the group.

 

Vincent let everybody out and watched the shadows with a dark glare; _“I know you’re out there somewhere”_ he thought vehemently.

When Xemnas attacked Vincent swore that he would be ready. But he was there to ultimately bring back Axel and Roxas. He would help the others as much as he could, but if they were killed; it wasn’t his problem.

“Its freezing out here” Aerith whispered as the hall they walked down was plunged into complete darkness.  
Axel manifested a small fireball in his palm and it illuminated the hall with a soft glow. He made sure everybody could see before he said to Roxas. “Be careful Rox, keep an eye out. I’m leaving you in charge of your family.”

Roxas turned his head from the front of the group and nodded to Axel and the Pyro turned around and said to the others crowded behind him. “Everyone stay together, if we get separated _we will be killed.”_

He was returned with silence and Axel turned back around and walked after the Strife Family.  
The alternate dimension seemed to resemble a dank, miserable dungeon. There was a constant, eerie _drip drip_ noise echoing down the black hall. It got pitch black and Roxas felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise.  
“This isn’t the way we came is it?” Demyx whimpered from behind Axel “We found the others pretty much straight away, why is it taking so long?”

The Mage had voiced Roxas’ fears and all ears were turned onto the Master and what he had to say.  
“We have to make a safe opening back into the real dimension. If we simply open a portal, who knows what evil forces could be leaked out. We could destroy everything we know if we are reckless.”

Suddenly, the situation seemed more daunting and it left a crushing weight on Axel’s shoulders. If he stuffed up in any way, even in the tiniest bit, it could cost him the lives of his fellow Silhouettes, the human family, or could ruin the life they knew on the outside.

Suddenly the hall branched off into two other directions and Roxas paused and turned around to Axel, fear illuminating his large sapphire eyes. “What do we do now?”  
The Pyro didn’t dare shrug his shoulders, instead he thrust out his hand and his little flame illuminated the darkness. He stepped forward and Roxas followed behind, leaving the others a couple of steps behind.

The moment they turned their backs, that was when disaster had struck.  
There was a shocked cry from Sora and as Roxas whipped around there was a piercing cry that erupted from Aerith.  
From behind the mother, Xemnas loomed from the darkness. His amber eyes flashed menacingly and there was a roar from the adjacent tunnel. Saix appeared and collided with Vincent and they hit the dark wall with a _crash._

Roxas’ eyes were fixed on Xemnas; and all the bastard did was smirk before he sunk his teeth into Aerith’s neck.

*****

“NO!” Roxas hollered lurching forward, _“I’ll kill you!”_ the blonde was overcome with such fury that his body acted on pure instinct to protect his mother.  
There were equal shocked cried from his friends and in a flurry of shadows Zexion pulled out his Lexicon and started to chant an incantation.

Blue electricity erupted from Zexion’s hands and it shot towards Xemnas.  
But before it could reach him, Xemnas yanked Aerith in front of him and in a flurry of shadows. Axel was in front of them and deflected the magic away with his chakrams.

After the magic sizzled away, the silence crushed everybody. Sora looked at Roxas helplessly and all the younger Strife brother could do was gape at the sight of his mother sobbing with blood staining the front of her pink blouse.

“We can’t kill him” Roxas breathed looking at Axel with a distressed gaze. The Pyro stood up and threw down his chakram which fell to the stone floor with a deafening _‘clang.’_  
With a sinister laugh, Xemnas disappeared back into the shadows and then it was followed by a large bang and a yelp. Vincent’s large, black revolver manifested and a spurt of blood erupted from Saix’s back.  
Saix was thrown against the stones and Vincent loomed above him. “I have had enough of you” he said monotonously, he aimed the gun at Saix who only grinned mischievously and in a puff of smoke vanished down the hall.  
Vincent fired his gun several times after the dancing shadow but Saix didn’t re-appear.

“How can he keep getting away!” exclaimed Xigbar angrily “he’s making it a game and we are his little game pieces!”  
As the Silhouettes bickered, Roxas felt the utter devastation tear through his stomach. His mother had just been bitten by Xemnas. The first word that whispered into his head was:  
 _“Bonded.”_  
When Axel had bitten him they were stuck together, if Axel went, so did he, so; if Xemnas were to be killed- so would-.”  
Roxas spun on his heels and ran down the black hall. The whole world seemed to be crushing him. He couldn’t breathe, his body shook uncontrollably. Tears stung his eyes and burned his sinuses.  
Behind him, he heard Sora call his name followed by the angry voice of Axel.  
He smacked his hands against the dripping stone wall.

“Not my Mum” he growled losing the battle against his tears, they rolled down his cheeks and he repeated in a whisper, “Not my mum.”  
They couldn’t kill Aerith; nobody would be able to do it. Even the toughest of the Silhouettes wouldn’t be able to kill her.  
Because of Xemnas.

He used Saix as a pawn to distract everybody whilst he got to Aerith, who was left unprotected because of Roxas’ foolishness.

Roxas felt a cold breeze race down the hall; he whipped his head up and gazed into the darkness. He didn’t see the shadow looming behind him.

*****

“Roxas?” Sora said, looking down the hall.  
He was mad at his brother for running away and he was terrified at the situation that had befallen them.  
His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he felt the hairs at the back of his neck begin to prickle. A cold rush of wind echoed down the hall and Sora spun around caught sight of Roxas.  
“Roxas” Sora called, he started to run but he faltered when he saw a shadow manifest behind his brother.  
Suddenly the adrenaline kicked in and he yelled hysterically, “Roxas! LOOK OUT!”  
He saw a wisp of silver hair and a long dark claw.  
“No” he whispered; he wasn’t going to make it.  
Before Roxas could turn around, the large claw swung forward impaling him through the chest and smashing him against the wall in a cloud of golden dust.

*****

“Roxas! LOOK OUT!”  
Demyx jerked his head up and exclaimed “that’s Sora.” He turned his gaze to Axel who picked up his chakram and went to bolt to the sounds of Sora’s terrified voice. Suddenly he jerked back with a grunt of pain.  
He gazed down to the sudden moisture on his cloak and his sharp eyes caught sight of the dark blood stain growing on the front of his chest.

Demyx stared at Axel in shock “You’re bleeding” he breathed and Axel pushed forward, every instinct in his body screaming at him to go save Roxas.

*****

“ROXAS” Sora yelped hysterically, the sight of Roxas impaled by the large claw that served as Xemnas’ arm made him sick.  
Gold glitter, mixed in with dark red blood and black ooze poured from Roxas’ body. His large blue eyes, shining with tears and pain.  
He wasn’t unconscious.

“Wish you could escape?” Xemnas mocked “The pain, so excruciating, all you want to do is wish for the darkness to take you?”  
Up on the claw, Roxas grimaced and ground his teeth together; small whimpers of pain escaped him. A trail of black welled up in the corner of his mouth then fell and trailed down his chin.

Shock paralysed Sora, his vision began to waver. He saw Xemnas turn towards him, but before he could do anything, there was a gush of wind and Riku appeared before Sora and clapped his hands over Sora’s eyes. The pressure made the brunette shut his eyes and Riku’s smooth voice whispered in his ear worriedly “We have to get you out of here!”  
Sora felt himself be pulled around and he opened one eye to see through Riku’s blurry hand and saw the outline of fire red hair.  
Axel had arrived.

*****

Axel stared at Xemnas hatefully before his gaze went to Roxas. He let Riku drag Sora past him and the Silhouette shouted “I”LL KILL YOU!”  
He stopped immediately when Roxas grimaced again before his tone became more worried and comforting “It’s alright Roxas, hang in there.”  
He moved forward and Xemnas yanked Roxas away and barked “Open the portal to the real world, NOW!”  
His tone became menacing and Axel hesitated. He winced in pain at the sudden sting in his chest just as Roxas shuddered and turned is head to Axel, tears of black/red trailing down his cheeks.

Axel refused to stand there and look helpless. A small murmur of pain escaped him as he removed the hand covering the blood stain and straightened up. “Axel” Roxas whimpered “I’m so sorry, its-it’s my”- his voice ended in a gurgle and new blood spewed from his mouth.

“Axel!”  
Vincent was heard and he appeared beside the Pyro Silhouette, his blood red eyes fixed on Roxas and said darkly “Do what he says Axel, we cannot afford to lose you-or Roxas.”  
Axel agreed and the Master Silhouette added “We will get everybody else out as well, don’t worry; this area is safe, open the portal.”

The Pyro nodded and opened a veil to the real world and was shocked when twilight fell upon them. He glanced back at Vincent “We weren’t gone for that long!” he exclaimed but before the Master could reply, Xemnas took the opportunity. “Time slows down in my alternate dimension. Time spent in here is doubled on the outside.”  
The moment Xemnas stepped from his realm and into the real world; it fell and melted around them. The other Silhouettes appeared with Aerith and a befuddled Cloud.  
Sora fell out with his crew of ghostly friends. Naminé and Kairi launched themselves at the boy and Riku crying with relief.  
The Silhouettes looked around for their human, only to find him clawed through the chest, hanging for life.

“Roxas!” Demyx whimpered, he went to move forward and Zexion yanked him back while Xigbar and Luxord went to block Aerith’s view of her son. She was already hysterical enough and she didn’t need this.

Axel rounded around with livid eyes, “DON’T MOVE!” he shouted “Demyx, you focus on healing everybody and you better fucking hurry up.”  
His jade eyes went back to Roxas and he saw the blondes hand drop. Gold dust fell from them, the gold mingled with the silver moonlight that was barely peeking through the dense clouds.

“I don’t want to go in there” a high voice piqued out “The waters cold and I will look like a troll.”  
“I’m trying to heal you” Demyx exclaimed pathetically and the voice bit back “What are you trying to do Kill me? I am not going in the water.”  
Axel rolled his eyes and shouted “LARXENE shut the hell up and get in that fucking fountain.” He didn’t turn around but his tick mark disappeared when he heard Larxene snap behind him.  
“Oi bastard, it isn’t me. Turn around and look with your god damned eyes before you go shouting at everybody!”

Axel turned around and saw an exasperated Demyx standing beside a sulking Marluxia and realised his mistake. Well, he could be mistaken for a female. Wouldn’t be the first time.  
Axel sighed, he didn’t have the time to be squandering and more specifically they couldn’t display weakness, especially in front of Xemnas.  
Out of his peripheral vision, Axel saw a ticked off Xigbar; he strode over to the fountain and with both hands, pushed Marluxia into the water.  
“Any other takers?” he shouted to the other Silhouettes. When he didn’t receive another complaint he turned to Demyx. “See? Stop acting like a pansy and allowing yourself to be pushed around, start acting like a boss.”  
Demyx bobbed his head hurriedly and gestured to the other Silhouettes as Xemnas turned to Axel and laughed cruelly.  
“Losing control Axel, losing your strength, unable to command the abominations; watching the one you care about most like this?” He smirked at Roxas who was trying to put on a strong face even though he was broken. It didn’t stop the tears rolling down his face and trying to fight the pain.  
Suddenly in the distance; a howl erupted from the trees. It became strangled and another explosive roar sounded in the trees, sounding more like a monster than a dog.

Xemnas laughed darkly and his amber eyes glinted maliciously, “Finally” he snarled.  
Vincent whipped out his gun clicking the revolver into place before he shouted “Everybody draw your weapons!” it was so unlike the Master, that it struck true fear into everybody that was congregated on the front terraces of the mansion.

The clouds parted and the silver moonlight erupted and the light around everybody went blue.  
“Look at the moon!” Demyx’s voice cried out.  
The moon wasn’t its usual large orb, but instead, a large heart shaped moon adorned the sky. The light reflected every Silhouette, Spirit and human and when it hit Roxas; he began to glow a faint colour of gold.

The trees broke apart and splintered as they were forced apart and a huge monstrous figure appeared. “That’s Saix!” Larxene’s voice rang out “What do we do?”

Axel stole a glance and fell over his feet in shock. Saix wasn’t a human any longer instead; he was a large grotesque figure of a mutant wolf-cross-reptile thing.  
His grotesque snout jutted out full of banana like, serrated teeth. His eyes were narrow, yellow slits and the skin that showed beneath the fur was a dark, mouldy green colour. He was roughly the size of a horse with paws the size of dinner plates and he was covered in wiry, dark electric blue fur. For once, Saix’s fangs and claws fit his body.  
Along his back, his fur stiffened and spiked out down his spine. Like he had a weapon fused within him.

“Get them out of here” a voice exploded out and in time, Cloud, Aerith and Sora were whisked away by two female Spirits.

Riku, Kairi and Naminé flanked by the other Spirits of Twilight Hill Mansion stood beside the Silhouettes, their once biggest enemy. Who used to fight and kill if any of them crossed the boundary that had divided the mansion and their lives.

Now they stood together as allies. Fighting for freedom; for their life; to rid themselves of the one true enemy. Xemnas.  
If their lives hadn’t been touched by the human boys. By sweet, bubbly Sora who bought the shy, withdrawn Spirits out of their miserable stupor to experience life once again.  
Arrogant but caring Roxas who gave the Silhouettes a reason to live again, to build up on the relationships they never knew they had. Gave Axel the life he had been deprived of. Taught them to care and love.  
Together the boys had made the Supernatural people discover who they were on the inside. Made them realise that they were…normal. Not the monsters they had been led to believe.  
That there were people out there, who genuinely cared for them.

Saix lunged first and the flurry of bright light illuminated the eerie blue light as multitudes of weapons manifested from the Silhouettes.  
Demyx scrambled away from his fountain, having healed most of the more serious wounds on the Silhouettes as Xemnas mocked Axel.  
He stood beside the Spirit Naminé and drew his Sitar out. Through the bubbly light of his summon, Demyx saw the shadows. They were writhing, like black worms. He saw small teeth and saw a shadow extending out towards Xigbar.  
It was about to bite him.

“Xiggy, look out!” Demyx cried lurching forward and pushing the older Silhouette away.  
The shadow chomped down on the hem of Demyx’s cloak and it began to eat away the fabric like acid. Demyx banged the bottom of his Sitar down, making a small light and chasing the shadow away.  
He gazed at his chewed cloak and Xemnas gazed at the situation before him and simply laughed. “That’s right; the light given off by my heart shaped moon creates shadows that will devour anything that steps into them.”

All the Silhouettes stepped away from the shadows. Their escape routes suddenly barred and their outlook on their future looking darker and darker. Unable to stand still for any longer, the Saix mutant roared and Vincent was the first to fire.  
His bullets hit Saix in the chest, thick black blood staining the fur. Outraged, the mutant jumped forward, the stiff fur on his back beginning to glow.  
Then at once, the spikes projectiled out hitting nearby Silhouettes. He howled and from the blue light, dozens of smaller weapons began to manifest in the grass.  
Claymores began to appear making more obstacles for the defenders of Twilight Hill. Saix jumped forward dodging the Claymores neatly and launched for Vexen and Xaldin.

Then, Lexaeus was there. He swung his massive tomahawk, clocking Saix neatly in the ribs. The reptile/wolf monster was flung into the air with a wheezing yelp. He twisted around and landed neatly into the shadows with his massive paws. Then he sprung out, confusing the Silhouettes and then directed himself towards an unweary Larxene.

The blonde screamed and altogether, the Silhouettes mobilised and Xigbar shot several streams of purple projectiles towards the mongrel. Zexion flicked open his Lexicon and scanned the pages before he shouted “Demyx!”  
The Water Mage turned around and he didn’t need to be told twice. He swung his Sitar around and desperately plucked at the strings trying to decipher a tune.  
“D-Dance” he began to stutter, his eyes widening at the sight of Saix attacking Larxene.  
He fumbled with his instrument before he straightened and he shouted with a more determined voice “Dance-Water-Dance!”  
A rush of water swept towards Saix and knocked him off his feet and Zexion shouted out a magic spell. It bound Saix’s paws together and the water directed Saix to a tree and smashed him against it.

Larxene struggled up, her cloak ripped down the front. It continued to fall open revealing, fair luminescent skin underneath. It went an angry shade of red before it began to bleed. The female Silhouette was sobbing uncontrollably and Zexion shouted “You’re alright Larxene; we can’t afford to lose anybody right now. It will be ok, trust me.”  
Larxene nodded and summoned her Kunai and Demyx scuttled off when Xigbar shouted “Be careful everybody, especially of those god damned shadows.”

Through the light and the dust, Saix reappeared and he looked extremely pissed off.

Zexion watched his enemy closely; Saix often changed his target, causing confusion. When the Master Magician saw the mutant jump away, he saw that his long bony tail had started to be eaten away.  
With a bolt of realisation, Zexion knew that even Saix wasn’t immune against Xemnas’ evil power.  
If they immobilised Saix, the shadows could actually be of help.


	31. When it's all Over Part II

Axel couldn’t stand there any longer, with intense gushes of flames; his chakrams appeared. He had the darkest desire to jump forward and disembowel Xemnas, but he couldn’t run the risk of injuring Roxas or himself any further.

His grip tightened on his weapons until his fingers began to burn. He stared at Xemnas, trying to think of a plan until he heard Vincent yell out behind him “Axel! Look out!”  
Axel's instincts kicked in instantly, he wasn’t called a Master Assassin for nothing.

He whirled around and his large circular chakrams protected him as Saix's jaws tried to close around him. Axel saw the massive fangs scratch against the steel of his of his weapons and he almost retched at the foul breath that cascaded down on him.

“Fucking mongrel,” he growled. He pushed against the Berserker's jaws then dropped the chakram slightly suddenly before he wrenched it back up. The top blade of his chakram plunged through the top of Saix's muzzle and Saix jumped away as Saix howled in pain.

The lethal chakram dangled from his mouth and Axel smirked and clicked his fingers. Suddenly, the chakram was set ablaze and Saix yowled in pain and tried to wrench the weapon out of his mouth.  
The smell of rotten, burnt flesh permeated the air and Axel began to choke at the horrid stench that threatened to close his airways.  
Saix tore the chakram from his muzzle succeeding in tearing his upper jaw. He roared in fury, Axel clicked his fingers again, and his weapon re-appeared in his hand covering in oozing black blood.

Saix gave up on Axel and scrambled back into to the fray of Spirits and Silhouettes.  
Axel dropped to his knees dropping his chakrams, feeling the unbearable pain wash over him. His breath came in ragged breaths, he gazed at Roxas who yelped in pain, and his hands gripped the claw that was protruding from his chest.  
Xemnas misted beside Axel and his face went close to Axel's ear.  
 _“You don’t want him to suffer do you?”_ he whispered  
“This poor, pathetic human can’t take much more, he's slipping away. I can feel it.”

Axel fell down to one arm, struggling to keep himself upright under the intense pain. He didn’t want Roxas to suffer. He didn’t deserve it; it was all Axel's fault.  
 _“I can save him,”_ Xemnas whispered. _“I can make everything go away and you can have everything back, including a healthy human.”_  
He sent a look to Roxas who was going an odd, ashen colour _“You don’t want him to die do you?”_

Axel was bordering beyond desperate, Xemnas was throwing him a lifeline. “You promise?” he wheezed and Xemnas nodded his head of silvery hair. “Of course” he said rather darkly then he added in a hushed voice _“You know what I want.”_

Suddenly, a flare of life erupted within Axel and Roxas kicked out his legs, flung out his hands, and pounded his fists against the large spike. Golden dust decorated the grass and Xemnas; and the young Strife brother shouted with renewed energy.  
“NO AXEL” he hollered “Don’t do it!” his large sapphire eyes bored into Axel's jade. “Xemnas is a _liar_ Axel, you know that. Do _not_ open it up, he will destroy everything.” 

Xemnas' eyes narrowed and suddenly Roxas yelled out in pain. His golden hair glinted in the eerie blue light and then a fountain of blood spewed from his mouth. It fell back and spattered all over his face and Axel shouted “NO! Promise me, you won’t hurt him. If I open the In-Between- _promise_ \- you won’t hurt him.”  
Xemnas smiled triumphantly _“I promise.”_

Axel wobbled and staggered to his feet, he took a deep breath and from behind him, Vincent shouted “Axel! What are you doing?” 

Xemnas chuckled and Axel, driven by desperation and promises opened a veil to the In-Between. It was a massive mistake.  
The moment the veil parted, Xemnas' shadows rushed towards it, eating and holding the veil open. Baring the In-Between to the entire world  
The last sanctuary was going to be destroyed. 

All around them, all the Silhouettes seemed to freeze. They all turned to stare at the situation before them and Xemnas simply yanked Roxas from his claw and dumped his small body in the grass. 

Axel scrambled over to Roxas, who began to spit and sputter blood. He groaned before he vomited all over the grass and Axel; the tough, heartless Silhouette leader leant over Roxas and let crystal tear drops fall down and land on Roxas' grey coloured cheeks.  
“I'm so sorry,” he breathed, the shock still registering on his face. 

Roxas coughed weakly before he wheezed, “We have to stop Xemnas, we have to save the In-Between, please Axel.”  
He raised his shaky hand, placed it on the pyro’s cheek, and laughed lightly “You're acting like I'm already dead, I'll tell you this; Roxas Strife doesn’t go down easily.” He wiped away a stray tear from Axel’s cheek “We-have-to-stop-Xemnas!" 

Axel nodded and as he looked up, he saw Demyx dodging shadows, weapon fire and bullets. He was always good at running away. He dragged his Sitar behind him and he collapsed beside Axel and Roxas and gasped to the Pyro “Cover my back, Saix might decide to attack us again.”  
Axel nodded and staggered to his feet and Demyx crossed his legs and sat his Sitar on his lap.  
He began to pluck at the strings expertly and it gave Axel the chance to turn around and view the carnage that was around him. 

Everybody he knew, all those dear to him were covered in dark blood. Flashes of bright lights illuminated the terraces and Axel saw Saix trip Marluxia and rake his claws across the fair Silhouettes face.  
Marluxia yelped out in pain and swung out his scythe succeeding in slicing Saix’s front left leg. There was a shriek of anger and a torn up, bloody Larxene hurled all her electric knives at Saix sending pulsing electrical waves towards the Berserker.  
A high-pitched, banshee shriek sluiced through the air, Naminé jumped into the air, and an orb surrounded Saix and bright aqua lights pierced through his body.  
Riku brandished his black and red sword and shattered Naminé’s orb and sliced down aiming for Saix. The air around the sword froze into tiny snowflakes and the sword clanged in between Saix’s weapon like spikes. 

Axel couldn’t bear it; he didn’t want to lose everybody. They were fighting for him, because he had forced the impossible deed upon them. Saix seemed to be full of boundless, ruthless energy with the main objective to kill.  
The Silhouettes would collapse from exhaustion long before Saix felt the damage dealt to his body. He wasn’t hindered in the slightest with his wounds. 

Axel saw a flurry of red and Vincent ripped the shadows away from the In-Between veil where Xemnas had disappeared long ago. He vanished within the golden realm and Axel spun around and saw a magnificently glowing ring in the palm of Demyx’s hand. It began to glow and Demyx said  
“It won’t heal him completely but it will stop the blood from coming out and give him the energy to do what he needs to do.” 

He dropped the glowing aqua ring into the hole in Roxas’ chest and it dissolved into liquid. The hole didn’t close up but the blood stopped pumping out and a little colour returned to Roxas cheeks.  
The blonde sat up wearily, his eyes an offset navy colour but it didn’t stop him from throwing his arms around the Water Mage and thanking him. 

“I’m so glad that you are one of my best friends Dem,” he said in a grateful whisper. 

Demyx beamed “You are one of mine as well Roxas.”  
He hugged the smaller blonde back and Axel cleared his throat and said rather gruffly, “Roxas, we better get going before you collapse again.” 

Roxas noticed the slight hint of jealousy in the red heads voice and he pulled away from Demyx. He began to rise to his wobbly feet, feeling like absolute crap he resisted the urge to vomit again.  
Demyx pulled up his Sitar sending one last assuring glance to Axel before darting back into the darkness leaving Roxas to look woozily up at Axel.  
“You are more than one of my best friends Axel,” he whispered “Save those titles for Demyx and Zexion.” 

Axel couldn’t help but let a small smirk decorate his face and he put his hand on Roxas’ shoulder. “They’re good friends Rox, I will admit that myself.”  
The red head led the blonde to the entrance of the 'In-Between'.  
“If anything happens to you Roxas, I will drop anything to save you.” 

At Axel’s words, Roxas felt a cold shiver run up his spine, _anything?_

***** 

Zexion cursed as Saix jumped back out of the shadows, he was a dumb beast but he evaded Zexion’s traps repeatedly.  
The Master Magician was growing more and more frustrated and jumped away from the flesh eating shadows. He cast a gaze to the large moon then back to the blue light that seemed to be fuelling the demons. 

Then, Zexion wondered _‘What if there was no blue light’?_ He looked back to his comrades giving off their own light as they all worked to subdue the Berserker wolf.  
Zexion saw Saix snarl and step back into the shadows slightly and his figure waivered and went slightly blurry until he stepped back into the blue light. 

_It was worth a try_

Zexion snapped his Lexicon shut, propped it under his arm, and shouted “Larxene!”  
The Blonde Silhouette looked up and saw the Magician and quickly, she ran over to him.  
Her green eyes blazed viciously “What do you want?” 

Zexion looked at her coldly before he gestured up to the heart shaped moon. “You can summon thunder and lightning which means dense clouds. I want you to cover that moon." 

“Are you _kidding?”_ Larxene hissed. “That light is the one thing that is helping save our pathetic asses, take that away and we are all screwed.” 

Zexion frowned and snapped in a hiss, “That light is what is fuelling those toothy bastards and that god-damned mongrel. Look around, we are capable of dodging for a while. If it isn’t what I think it is, call the clouds back.” 

Larxene narrowed her eyes and Zexion looked at her with his deep blue eyes. “Trust me on this Larxene” he almost seemed to beg.  
The girl hesitated; she cast a look to the moon and then back to Zexion and sighed, _“Alright,_ but Zex if this doesn’t work; _I_ will be the one to rip your head off.” 

She stepped back and gazed to the clearing sky. She crossed her arms across her chest, knives glinting and pointing upwards. Her body almost seemed to hum with energy and the electric pulses made Zexion’s legs weak.  
Larxene slid her eyes shut, in the distance there was a rumble, and the air became crisp as the clouds began to congregate. 

“Aim for Saix” Zexion whispered and Larxene hissed through her teeth “No dipshit, I’ll aim for _you”_ her eye twitched in annoyance. She opened them once the clouds began to eat away the light and she whispered “This better be worth it Zexion.” 

“What are you doing?” A shout came from the direction of where the Free-Shooter Xigbar was. He sent them a sharp yellow glare “Are you stupid?”  
He was subtly ignored and Larxene pulled the clouds over the moon.  
The terrace was instantly plunged into darkness and everything was dead silent for a moment before a screaming noise echoed through the shadows. Suddenly all the fanged worms and shadows began to thrash wildly and they all swarmed together and shot towards the alarmed Silhouettes. 

The Spirits hovered up into the air, glowing like blue beacons, Xigbar teleported in a puff of purple and black smoke and from his special dimension; he hung upside down and watched the fray below him. 

Risking all odds, all the Silhouettes misted and Zexion hissed, _“Thought so.”_ He looked to Larxene “Look at Saix.” 

All attention was put onto the Berserker and as Zexion had predicted, the mongrel was fuelled by the blue moonlight. The moment ‘said’ moonlight was gone, Saix lost his monster form. He transformed back into his Silhouette form. He instantly felt all the pain fall over him and it succeeded in pissing him off. 

“NOW!” Zexion exclaimed, Larxene threw her arms out, and a large huge crack of thunder sounded as lightning flashed down and hit Saix. A large dust cloud swept up obscuring everybody’s view.  
There was another rumble and then it began to rain. It bucketed down, drenching everybody within seconds and Demyx sighed “How miserable.” 

The dust settled down and all the Silhouettes went quiet but they all received a bigger shock than Larxene’s lightning bolt when they found Saix intact. Above his head, he held a massive Claymore that had been the deflection against Larxene’s brutal assault. He lowered it and he glared directly at Zexion.  
 _“Today is just not my day”_ Zexion breathed. 

Above him, Xigbar shouted irritably: “What does he think he is? Immortal?” He was being sarcastic but it didn’t stop Demyx putting in his two cents. “But we are all Immortal Xiggy? Isn’t Saix a Silhouette like us?” 

Zexion could almost hear Xigbar roll his eyes “Just shut-up Demyx before you hurt yourself.”  
The Magician saw Saix run towards him and momentarily panicked, all magic incantations escaped his mind as his instincts screamed at him to run. He wasn’t built for combat; he was too small, too light. Saix would absolutely clobber him. 

It was too late to run and too late to open his Lexicon. That was it. He was going to die, because he didn’t know how to run away. He braced for the initial impact and watched Saix lift his glittering Claymore above his head. 

__“ZEXION!”_ _

__There was a flash of blue light and a resonating _‘Crash’_ and Zexion snapped back to reality when he saw Saix’s Claymore go flying onto the grass. Along with it, the remnants of a shattered Sitar._ _

__Demyx boldly pushed Saix and shouted “Leave us ALONE, you stupid MONGREL. You are like a bad smell that does not go away!”_ _

__“Demyx” Zexion breathed. He reached forward and grabbed the Mage “Come away.” He saw Demyx cast a glance to his broken Sitar and it didn’t take a genius to recognise that Demyx was distraught over his broken weapon and instrument._ _

__A growl erupted from Saix’s chest and Zexion pushed Demyx away as Saix lifted his clawed hand. Zexion lifted his Lexicon and in a last desperate ditch, hurled his magic book clocking Saix on the head with the massive book.  
Saix looked shocked for a moment but when he gathered his thoughts, Zexion had already escaped with Demyx in tow._ _

__Up in the air, Marluxia, who had been crying over his scratched face, looked at Larxene narrowing his eyes.  
“I feel hot.”_ _

__From beside Larxene, Vexen gave Marluxia a dirty look before Larxene hissed “Can’t you just keep your mouth shut? It makes me awkward when you say things like that.”  
Marluxia frowned “No, as in I’m starting to burn!”_ _

__Larxene went to exclaim but stopped when she felt her feet beginning to burn as well. She gasped and from beside Marluxia, Luxord said, “You feel that as well?”_ _

__Xigbar looked at the trio seemingly unhindered “What’s up with you guys”?_ _

__Marluxia pulled from the shadows “Ugh I can’t handle it anymore, _I have to get out.”_ The fair Silhouette manifested from the shadows and to everybody’s horror, black maggot shaped shadows tumbled from the void Marluxia had resided in._ _

__Larxene shrieked and withdrew herself from the shadows, the same thing happening. All the Silhouettes were being eaten in the shadows._ _

__Zexion saw the commotion and cursed, those little beasts were proving to be lethal, but if he allowed the light to come back, Saix would turn back into that beast._ _

__The Silhouettes all dropped back to the black earth except Xigbar who looked utterly confused. “What-The-Hell?”_ _

___“We need the light Zexion,” Larxene shrieked, “Let me call the clouds away.” Through the uproar, Saix suddenly found this incredibly easy. All the Silhouettes were in absolute disarray._  
He leant over to pick up his Claymore from the shattered remains of the Sitar but as he did, a silver tentacle bubbled into view and wrapped around the Berserker’s wrist.  
Confused, Saix wrenched his wrist up, the tentacle solidified into an arm, and a being clad in pink appeared from the destroyed remnants of the Musical Weapon.  
It stood on two pointed legs and danced around with large bubbles emanating from its lithe body. 

__Saix simply gawked at the swaying figure unable to fathom what it was or whether or not it was safe enough to attack._ _

__The silver and pink figure made a gurgling water sound and Saix stared at it before making a dumb noise. The figure went a metallic red colour and then picked Saix up and threw him across the terrace like a ragdoll._ _

__As Saix hit the grass with a solid _‘thud’_ and the alien figure sent out a gush of water, paralysing the mongrel. As the water dissipated, Saix had been bound down by bright blue binds. The more he struggled, the tighter the binds became._ _

__The monster then turned its direction to Demyx and made another gurgling noise and the Mage stared at it wide eyed before he turned to the Magician. “Now’s our chance Zex, We can’t let this go.”_ _

__*****_ _

__“He’s ruining everything!” Roxas exclaimed angrily before wincing at the pain in his chest. He sent a sharp glare to Axel, _“Why!_ Did you let him in?”  
Axel gazed back at him with an equally menacing gaze “I was worried for _you_ ; as I recall you weren’t looking all that _great_ when you were impaled by that claw!” _ _

__Roxas pouted and looked around the disintegrating, magical realm “It already seems like its dying.” He held out his hand and a small golden bird of light manifested in the palm of his hand. It took flight and as it left his palm, it began to crackle and burn turning into a little show of fireworks._ _

__“I didn’t know you could do that!” Axel exclaimed and Roxas laughed lightly despite the enormous pain that was slowly eating at him. “Neither did I.”  
His eyes searched the vast cavern before him before he said softly “He could be anywhere in this place, where can we even begin to look?”_ _

__Axel refused to be defeated, they couldn’t let Xemnas destroy the ‘In-Between’. He had spent far too long protecting the place for it to be manipulated and destroyed.  
He had given all of that up for Roxas._ _

___The pair stopped and looked around the gold clad realm, which was slowly turning a nasty shade of black. An eerie breeze swept through the darkness, rustling the hair and the clothes of the human and the Silhouette._  
It chilled Roxas right to the bone and his teeth began to chatter involuntarily.  
Right away, Axel sensed the change in his blonde and a fire was alight and dancing in his palms as he held them towards Roxas. “I’m sorry” he murmured, “You’re hurt and I’m dragging you around without even knowing where to go myself.” 

__Through his chattering teeth, Roxas managed to mumble “S’okay Axel. Jus- need to find- Xem”- He wrapped his arms around his chest, inhaling a sharp breath as he accidently nudged his gaping chest wound._ _

__Axel began to grow angry and frustrated at himself for not being able to help Roxas. He ran a desperate hand through his wild red hair, helped Roxas steady himself, and kept a firm hand on the blondes arm.  
“I promise I will deal with this.”_ _

__As he said this, there was another gust of cold air, which distinguished the fire in Axel’s palm and made Roxas shiver again. The Pyro whipped is head around and saw a flicker of red, it began to manifest, a large red cloak swept out, and Vincent stood there._ _

__He regarded the two with flat red eyes and he pointed to Axel and said “Xemnas is in the chamber, I thought I would come and get you. I think you two have a fair chance at fighting him than what I have.”  
Axel swore that Vincent said this more to Roxas than what he did to him and couldn’t but let a frown cement his face, but he hid his head in the shadows and Vincent held out his gauntlet hand and the gold dust fell from it and the scene around them began to twist and change._ _

__The fight was imminent and Axel was feeling the anxiety grow more and more in his gut and he didn’t like it one bit. Whether he liked it or not, Roxas was going to be in the crossfires, no matter how hard the Pyro tried to protect him._ _

__*****_ _

__Zexion whipped out his Lexicon dodging the shadows expertly and flicked through the pages with practised ease. Demyx danced on his tiptoes, stepping and squashing the maggots under his boots, they kept manifesting beneath him._ _

__The Mage looked back to the manifestation of his Sitar who had Saix in a chokehold. It seemed completely oblivious to the fanged shadows that attacked it. They bounced harmlessly off the pink like armour._ _

__Saix however… He was being eaten alive._ _

__The Berserker howled in anger and pain, struggling against the swaying creature. He flailed his arms and legs trying to kick the maggots away. His cloak was being shredded into tiny little pieces revealing his pale skin, stained in his black/red blood._ _

__Zexion saw the spells he wanted and he looked back to the scene around him. He looked back to the Berserker struggling on the ground and then wondered whether he should just let Saix die painfully by the shadows._ _

___Demyx’s little Dancer thing was strong but so was Saix. Despite him being eaten and attacked, the Berserker would break free eventually before he went down._  
Zexion looked back down to the perfect spell. This particular one he had been devising for over a century.  
An incinerating spell. 

__Like Saix’s ability and like Vincent’s gun, this spell that Zexion had spent countless decades on had this effect. If it hit, Silhouettes would be incinerated on contact leaving nothing behind. If Zexion used it now, it would be the first time he had ever used it. Oh and how did he pray that it worked._ _

__He propped up his Lexicon and raised his hand, directing it at Saix.  
“You better pray that this works” Vexen muttered from behind him, his ice green eyes scanning Zexion’s spell. _ _

__The Schemer muttered something incoherently under his breath and took a deep breath to calm his frazzled nerves. What if he failed?  
He would fail everyone… Demyx, Axel, _everyone.__ _

__Zexion shook his head, regained his composure, and was suddenly acutely aware of all the Silhouettes’ eyes upon him. They were counting on him to get rid of the Berserker that had made their dark lives even more hell. They would escape his brutality and be free of the monster._ _

__Zexion’s eyes locked with the savage yellow eyes of the Mongrel Silhouette. Saix bared his teeth and his eyes narrowed into slits. His anger, the savagery and the animalism showed within his eyes and face.  
Xemnas had turned Saix into a monster and the Mongrel was far beyond repair._ _

__Saix whipped his head back and strained against the Water Dancer. He arched his back and a choked, terrifying howl ripped from his chest. Through the scattered moonlight, Zexion saw the Mongrel’s fangs elongating and spit and blood erupted from his mouth as he roared._ _

__Suddenly his hands ripped from the Dancer and he jumped to his hands and feet. The blue bonds restraining him shattered into a million pieces and disappeared. Saix’s attention was focused solely on Zexion. His one and only target._ _

__Zexion felt his gut drop and from the side Demyx shouted out in horror _“ZEXION!”__ _

__Saix started to run towards him, running like a monster. Fangs bared eyes livid and murderous. Now, Zexion had lived a long time and had a lot of brutal and scary things happen in front of him. But Saix, running on all fours towards him; that was the first thing that truly terrified the Schemer._ _

__Zexion placed one foot behind him, readying his stance as Saix bolted towards him. He faced his palm flat and began to chant under his breath, his eyes never leaving Saix.  
The mongrel leapt towards him, fangs and talons coming towards him._ _

__There were screams from all around the terrace, possibly from every single Silhouette. Demyx expected the worst. That was it._ _

__That was when bright yellow light erupted from Zexion’s hand. A roar filled the terrace from the sheer, raw power from this spell. A large beam engulfed Saix and the reverberating blast that came back brought all the Silhouette’s to their knees._ _

__Trees were ripped in half from the blow, bursting into flames on impact. Zexion struggled under the power, dropping his Lexicon in the process.  
There was an unearthly scream from Saix and when Zexion’s charge beam sizzled to a stop the terrace that had been caught in the impact was totally and utterly destroyed._ _

__Ash in the shape of the Mongrel was frozen in the air for a split second before it fell to the grass in a black heap. It sprinkled over the grass and from the remains; a black soul came from it.  
Red eyes glowed and a long, hysterical moan erupted out before it roared and shot towards Zexion._ _

__Zexion didn’t have time to react before Saix’s black Spirit penetrated him, passing through his body and freezing everything. The black spirit then dissipated into the night sky. Saix was gone, they had succeeded._ _

__Zexion saw Demyx’s beaming face and the cheering of the others before his knees gave way and the ground rushed up to meet him._ _


	32. Finalisation

The yell of anger was instantaneous.

Axel had barely gotten himself and Roxas out of the darkness before he heard the loud gunshots resonate through the cavern.  
The Pyro protected Roxas, holding the blonde closer. He watched Vincent load his gun and aim it carefully before Xemnas' laugh echoed around the stone walls. “You seriously think that will stop me?”

The grey haired Silhouette swept through the darkness away from the fluorescent green lake and up to Vincent; passing his shoulder and said “I’m in the ‘In Between’ my powers are enhanced you fool- you Masters think you are all so high and mighty; but break away at their foundations and they will eventually topple.”

Xemnas disappeared again and Vincent kept steady with his weapon then said darkly through the cavern. “Alright Xemnas- You are in the In Between, you have control of everything. Including the world. What now?”

There was another laugh:  
“Control! Of this world?”  
Xemnas re-appeared, amber eyes flashing. “This world is damaged and beyond repair. This alternate dimension has the power to create a whole new world. That’s what I want.”

“Oh you twisted fuck!” Axel shouted, “If you’re not happy with this world, go die, then everything will be infinitely better.”

Xemnas turned his head to glare at the Pyro and his mouth turned into a smirk.  
“Why are you the one complaining?” the silver haired Silhouette taunted, “You are the one that let me in Axel. You chose to be selfish.”

Axel halted and then he shouted, “I wasn’t being selfish. I had to save Roxas!”

“For your own selfish needs” Xemnas said evilly “You could have saved this alternate universe, this magic. Dying would have been a better option than choosing to live Axel. Now I will make you suffer.”

Axel hesitated and gazed to Roxas who was fighting the pain that was eating him.  
Maybe he was…selfish.  
Roxas was suffering; maybe the blonde had wanted to die. But Axel had kept him alive. Now everyone was at the mercy of Xemnas.  
Axel was… selfish

“Don’t listen to him Axel” Vincent said “We can’t give up now; we are the only ones that can beat him now.”  
Axel struggled to move, to make up his mind. So Xemnas saw that as a sign of defeat and turned away. “Pathetic” he chuckled.

Suddenly there were several loud bangs. Xemnas dissipated in a cloud of smoke and re-appeared glaring at Vincent. “I think you should aim a little better Master Silhouette.”

Vincent lowered his gun, clicked the handle, and said from behind his large red collar “Don’t speak so soon.”

At Vincent’s click, Xemnas jerked back and his shoulder began to split. Blood gushed out from the wound and the silver haired Silhouette cursed and tried to disappear again. As he tried, smoke plumed around him but he wasn’t able to transport through the darkness.

Vincent turned to Axel, “Now’s our chance.”  
This time, Axel agreed.

*****

Sora woke up to darkness.  
It took him a moment to realise where he was, in the entrance hall of the mansion. He sat up slowly, trying not to make the rushing in his head worse. His eyes adjusted to the inky blackness and he saw the figures of his parents lying beside him.

Slowly, Sora put his hand on his mother’s shoulder and began to gently shake her “Mum, Mum wake up.”  
As his mother began to stir, Sora began a mental debate with his heavy body.

After a few seconds, Sora managed to struggle to his feet and he stretched out his cramped muscles and stiff joints. Through the shattered remains of the window, he became aware of the moonlight shining into the house.

He strode to the window and saw soft silver moonlight. The sky was clear without a cloud in the sky. The masses of stars glittered above and Sora realised that he had never looked up at the stars ever since they had moved to Twilight Hill.

He looked back down to the terrace; however…  
It was destroyed. Completely destroyed. 

“What the hell happened?” Sora muttered to himself staring out the window. He gazed out expecting to see Roxas or any of the Silhouettes but everything was dimly lit and eerily silent. The brunette went to call out of the window for his brother before he heard a voice behind him.  
“There’s no point Sora; there’s no one out there.”

Sora spun around feeling the fright filling him and he saw the ghostly figure of Riku.  
“W-What happened Riku?” Sora stuttered “Please tell me what happened!?" 

Riku stepped closer, filling the room with an icy chill. “We had to send you and your parents inside Sora; you wouldn’t have stood a chance against Saix. It was for your own safety.”

“Wait!” Sora interrupted the Spirit glancing around the room before looking back to his ghostly companion “Where’s my brother. Where’s Roxas?”  
That was when Riku hesitated and that made Sora’s heart drop to his feet.

Finally, Riku spoke “He’s…alive Sora.”

The small hesitation didn’t assure Sora very much and the concern began to eat at him frantically. “That doesn’t make me feel any better Riku,” he cried. “You could be lying for all I know.” At his cry, Riku sent a worried glance to a stirring Aerith and he said “I can’t say anything to your mother Sora, I-I have to go.”

Riku started to drift towards the door rather quickly and Sora darted after him and caught the ghost’s hand. His human flesh passed through the misty film of Riku but the boy was able to feel the ghostly grip of the silver haired Spirit before him.   
Sora began to grind his teeth and hot tears began to sting his eyes “Don’t lie to me Riku” he snarled, “I have every right to be in this fight as anyone else.”

Riku aqua eyes narrowed and he tried to yank his hand away, “This does not concern you Sora, this is between the Spirits and the Silhouettes, it always has been. Humans have never interfered.”

Sora kept hold of Riku and he spat back “It’s changed now Riku, humans have been dragged into this and I do not want to be left out if my brother is tied up in this. He is my little brother and it is my job to protect him.”

Riku breathed out and hissed, “Not anymore Sora, you relinquished that. Roxas is taken care of by Axel. You are…unnecessary.”

Sora let go of Riku who quickly dissipated and the boy turned around to see Aerith sitting up and gazing around her ruined house with wide eyes. Her green gaze settled on her eldest son and Sora knew she was looking for Roxas as well.

“He’s outside Mum,” Sora said in a low voice “He’s just… fixing something up with the Silhouettes.” Aerith struggled to get up and her eyes were dark with suspicion, she didn’t believe Sora’s lie, even Sora couldn’t believe what he had said.

*****

Axel lunged in for the kill but Xemnas quickly dodged the attack.  
“Don’t be an idiot Axel” Vincent shouted reloading his gun “He is just going to keep avoiding you.” The Pyro cursed and shouted back “Well what do you expect us to do genius?”

Somewhere in the cavern, Xemnas laughed and slunk away again. He wasn’t going to fight if he could avoid being hurt.

…

Roxas lay up against a large stone beside the soul lake. He lifted his hand and placed it over the hole in his chest. He drew it away, bought it up to his face, and saw it was covered in wet, crimson blood.  
He grimaced in pain and put his head up against the rock. He felt the thrum of souls in the water behind him and he watched the fight between his friends and his enemy…unable to help.  
His friends were failing…badly.

Whenever they were close to landing an attack, Xemnas managed to disappear even with his damaged arm. Even if he couldn’t escape through the darkness, he was still in the ‘In- Between.’ You could do anything you wanted.

Roxas grimaced again and his breaths came in rapid gasps as he struggled to get up.  
‘I’m dying’ his mind whispered to him ‘Too much blood has been lost; you aren’t going to survive for much longer.’   
Roxas found himself beginning to panic, ‘I can’t die’ he thought frantically. His sight was beginning to fade but the blonde was able to see Axel swaying unsteadily and trying to focus. If he died, Axel would as well.

Xemnas saw the lag in the pyro and ran forward, dodging Vincent’s rapid fire and hitting Axel square in the chest with elongating claws.   
There were double screams of agony and Xemnas threw Axel across the cavern, ending in the Pyro losing his Chakrams.

Roxas rolled onto his side, tears and blood trailing down his face. The pain he was in was unexplainable. How could he endure so much pain and still be alive? He didn’t know. He looked up through his hazy vision and saw Xemnas striding to a downed Axel. He was going for a finishing blow.

“NO!”   
Roxas leant up against the rock and struggled to his legs. They wobbled precariously in protest but the blonde managed to stand and shout to Xemnas “Leave him alone, otherwise you answer to ME.” Roxas felt anger rushing through his veins, the pain diminishing and turning into hate and power.

Golden dust and light particles rushed towards him and gathered at one of his hands, whilst the other was being eaten by swirls of black and purple. Roxas looked back at Xemnas, his sapphire eyes glowing with so much venom and hate.

Shapes began to manifest in each of hands, a weapon of light and the other of darkness. There was a burst of bright light and Axel jumped up and shouted “ROXAS!”

The light died away but Xemnas jumped back his arms in a protective ‘X’ shape, blocking against two menacing Key like weapons. Roxas was in the air his weapons pushing down on Xemnas before he jumped back with surprising agility and Xemnas snarled “Keyblade’s?”

Axel and Vincent stared dumbstruck as Roxas lunged in again, a savagery in his actions that rivalled any Silhouette. Xemnas was forced back again and Roxas shouted angrily “I’ll make you regret everything you have done to my family and my friends, EVERYTHING.”

His gold and blue Keyblade sparked with light and with a roar, Roxas swung it and got Xemnas in the side. Light struck through him like sunbeams and in a quick adjusted movement, Roxas swung the black Keyblade and enveloping Xemnas in smoke before it spiked and struck into him.

Black smoke enveloped the two and Axel ran towards his Chakrams and picked them up ready to jump in and defend Roxas. But before he could run to the smoke, there was an angry roar and inside the dark, there was an angry red glow and a metallic shriek.

Roxas suddenly flew out from the darkness and his small body was thrown up against the stone wall both his Keyblade’s flying away from him on the impact. The smoke disappeared and Xemnas stalked out, his hands aflame with long red blades protruding from his palms.

Axel was bought down to his knees from the pain that emanated from Roxas. A long trail of black blood slid down his forehead and into his eyes. It stung, even for a Silhouette. A groan escaped him and Vincent shouted, “Axel are you alright?”

The Pyro struggled to look up and Vincent leant down beside him and whispered urgently “Get to Roxas- immediately. Xemnas will kill him for certain.”  
Axel struggled up and he wheezed, “What are you going to do? I can’t reach him before Xemnas does.”

Vincent dropped his gun and his crimson eyes burned into Axel’s jade. “Do what is necessary Axel. I forgive you.”

Axel was seriously confused, he watched Vincent wrap his cloak around him, he began to grow, and red light surrounded him. Then there was an ear-shattering roar that filled the cavern. Vincent’s cloak was thrown back and it was ripped and jagged, they resembled demon’s wings and Vincent’s face was covered, vivid yellow eyes and dripping fangs were clearly visible.

He had turned into a bloodthirsty monster. 

An animalistic growl ripped through the demon, his wings opened wide and a large gust of wind ripped through the cavern. The demon sped towards Xemnas and before the Silhouette could even react, both he and Vincent smashed into the opposite stone wall.

There was a loud crash and the whole cavern shook dangerously. Axel managed to keep his balance and he ran across the cavern to help a barely conscious Roxas to his feet. He couldn’t afford to let Roxas black out, Axel need to help Vincent.

There was a shriek and Vincent- the Demon flew backwards with blood spurting out from a wound to his side and Xemnas jumped out, his face wild with anger. He swept his blades backwards and forwards slicing and cutting at the Vincent Demon.

The Demon flew upwards and red and gold projectiles erupted from him all hitting Xemnas and bringing the Silhouette down to his knees. The demon roared again and swept down to go for the kill before Xemnas crossed his arms and blocked the attack.

The Demon had come so close, their faces were barely millimetres apart before the demon sprung back, snarling menacingly. His wings beat against the stone and Xemnas shouted “Come on Vincent, you have to let your monster overtake you. You were planning to go back to normal after this?”

The demon shrieked again and Xemnas whispered to himself “Thought so. He won’t be able to go back. He is ‘his’ dog as much as Saix was mine.” He uncrossed his arms “Don’t worry demon” he called “I will be the one to kill you; my Ethereal blades will do their job. Your efforts are useless.”

Up above the demon snarled and took the open target. It swooped back down but it had been a trap. “NO!” Axel shouted but it was too late. Xemnas threw his arm down, the demon tried to dodge; it succeeded in moving his body but his crimson wing was sliced clean off.

Blood spurted in every direction and the demon lost his flight balance and fell to the ground with a resounding ‘bang.’ Blood continued to fly everywhere, drenching not only Xemnas, but Axel and Roxas as well.

Axel watched the fight helplessly, Vincent was a monster and there was a chance that he wouldn’t even know him if he went to help in the fight. He gasped and looked beside him when he heard a ‘clang’ and saw Roxas jab both of his Keyblade’s into the stone and haul himself up, leaning all his weight on them.

He surveyed the fight between Xemnas and Vincent and he whispered “I knew Vincent was hiding something; He isn’t a normal Silhouette.”   
Axel looked at him shocked “How would you know Roxas?”

The blonde shrugged feebly “He is like Saix. He turned into a werewolf monster and Vincent is a demon. I could just feel it when I was around him. But I never dared mention it around him.” He suddenly heaved and coughed, blood poured from his mouth and spattered from the hole in his chest.

He slumped forward, his Keyblade’s screeching against the stone, Axel reached out quickly to grab him, and Roxas wheezed, “I don’t want your help.”   
He weakly batted Axel’s hand away and he straightened up to gaze at the Pyro. Axel looked down at him worried before he saw Roxas’ ‘tough’ façade break.

His face crumpled and he whispered, “I’m going to die Axel, I’ve done nothing and I’m going to die, like some pathetic animal.” Tears poured down his blood-spattered face “My spirit doesn’t want to die” he whispered hoarsely “but my body does, its failing me. I just want to-fall-asleep.”  
He trailed off and Axel caught him as he fell and shouted “No Roxas, come on man, stay with me- please.” 

By this stage, Axel was begging and Roxas Keyblade’s fell onto the stone with loud clangs and disappeared in sparkles of light and swirls of blackness. Axel felt the life ebbing away in the blonde and the panic began to peak. Xemnas was still alive and Axel was going to die.  
After all, he fought for and he was going down like this.

Another shriek made him look up and he saw the Vincent Demon lurch forward and wrap its arms around Xemnas and crushed his arms against his sides. It began to drag him across the cavern and Xemnas began to struggle and break free of the Demons grip.   
His Ethereal blades continually cut the Demon but he didn’t seen hindered as he continued to drag Xemnas over the stone. 

Xemnas growled in annoyance and suddenly black smoke started to pour off him and the demon drew back in shock as his crimson clothing began to burn off him. He swung around, his wing sweeping over the stone and his other useless stump still spitting blood.

Xemnas appeared behind the demon and then thrust his blade down into Vincent’s neck. It stabbed in through the top of the neck and cut right through to the bottom of the throat. There was a hissing gurgle, Vincent swung his hand around, and his large black claws raked down Xemnas’ face and with deadly accuracy, cut right across Xemnas’ own throat.

Still with the blade through his throat, Vincent pushed back against Xemnas and they both stumbled backwards and Xemnas’ feet hit a wall and made him topple backwards. Then, both the Silhouette and the Demon toppled into the vivid green water of the soul lake.

Suddenly Vincent’s confusing words hit Axel and it made sense in a terrible, cruel way.   
“Do what is necessary Axel. I forgive you.”

Axel saw the struggling pair and saw Xemnas yank his blade sidewards to free it, slicing the Demons head. His stomach flip-flopped uneasily but with Roxas lying in his arms, he dragged the almost lifeless blonde to the soul lake.

He saw the green water quickly turning a shade of red and through Xemnas’ angry shouting and thrashing, the demon kept him down. Axel looked into the golden eyes of the monster and he heard Vincent’s voice whisper in his mind.  
“Thank you Axel, you have freed me from my torment.”

With a final nod, Axel lifted Roxas’ hand.  
“NO!” Xemnas roared “THIS ISNT HOW ITS SUPPOSED TO END. I’LL GET YOU AXEL.”

Axel smirked “Cya later- bastard.”

He dipped Roxas’ hand into the water, it instantly went a shade of sapphire blue, and a rumble filled the cavern. There was a roar and the water swirled around Vincent and Xemnas, stripping their souls from their body.

It wasn’t a pleasant sight, watching their bodies being ripped apart. But Axel’s relief quickly turned to horror when Roxas drew his last breath.


	33. The Final Goodbye

…

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Sora watched the sky lightening, the blue giving way to shades of pink and yellow as dawn approached.  
All night he had searched for any sign of the Silhouettes or the Spirits who had seemed to disappear as well.

Aerith had spent the greater deal of early morning fretting over where youngest son could have disappeared to but Sora knew that she had the thought lingering in her head that Roxas had been killed.  
He had the feeling as well.

He gazed back out to the terrace and sighed ‘You better not have died on me Roxas’ he thought to himself. No matter what he said, it didn’t seem to make the dread in his chest go away.  
Then, through the shadows he saw movement.

He leant over the window sill and as he peered closer he made out the shape of two figures. They came out from the shadows and the older brother instantly recognised the Silhouettes, the two larger ones, the one with dreads and the one with wild brown hair.  
They came out and Sora realised with a heavy heart that they were carrying two smaller figures in their arms. Then he realised who they were, the small form of Zexion and the shadowy figure of Demyx.

He scrambled away from the window and Aerith exclaimed from the ruins of the kitchen, “Sora what’s the matter?”  
She was ignored and Sora jumped clean off the balcony and onto the grass and ran towards the Silhouettes. He came aware of the other Silhouettes congregating behind and they all looked battered, hurt and bloody.

And there was no sign of Axel or Roxas

Sora searched the group frantically before looking to the fair form of Marluxia before saying in a wavering voice “Where’s Axel and my brother?”  
Marluxia looked to the female Larxene beside him before he looked back to Sora and shrugging his shoulders helplessly “I don’t know Sora, I’m sorry. They disappeared into the ‘In-Between’ with the Master Silhouette and they…” he trailed off and Sora shouted “What!”  
“…They didn’t come back out” Marluxia stated.

Sora’s heart dropped and tears began to fill his eyes. “What am I going to tell mum and dad” he whispered; his lower lip trembling. “I can’t waltz up to them and say that my brother is dead can I?”

All the Silhouettes looked to each other with pitying and devastated looks before the card Silhouette pulled out his cards and said in a sigh “We don’t even know if Xemnas is dead. We won’t know anything until we find out what has happened.”

Sora looked back to the mansion and let his shoulders drop “I done nothing to protect my little brother, all those times I let him down.”

Before he could continue with his speech, the scarred Silhouette Xigbar waved his hand and said “Here we go, the regret speech already? Damn you move fast, we don’t even know if they are dead yet.”

Sora looked gave a wounded look to the demon before Larxene lifted her hand and said in a gasp, “Oh my god, guys look!”

…

Roxas gasped and saw the sky above him. He saw the remains of golden dust falling about him and he jumped violently when he heard a ‘thump’ beside him and as he came to, he began to recognise his front yard. His began to clear and he became acutely aware of the presence of Axel kneeling beside him.  
Anxious green eyes hovered above him and Roxas was instantly on the alert and defensive. He sat up and began to fight a bad rush of vertigo. His eyes swam in colours before him and he let a low hiss escape his lips.

“Are you alright?” Axel whispered leaning closer and Roxas only groaned “I feel so sick.” He rubbed his head vainly trying to rid of the nausea. He was concentrating so hard on trying not to throw up before his gaze fell to his hand.

It was an ash/grey colour and wisps of smoke curled around his arm. All sickness drained away along with the blood in his face and he turned his head to Axel and hissed “Tell me what the hell happened! Was Xemnas killed?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously and he was slightly surprised at the intense surge of anger that overcame him. He had never felt so mad in his life, it burned his chest and began to heat up his face and Axel flinched back and began to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.

Roxas frowned and he said in a deliberately slow voice “Is-Xemnas-Dead?!”

Axel looked back up and his green eyes burned into Roxas’ sapphire and he nodded slowly before he looked back down to the grass and he said in a soft voice “Vincent died as well, he…” the Pyro trailed off and Roxas shook his head and gazed back to his hand.  
The Master had sacrificed his life to save them, to kill the bastard Xemnas.

“Uhh Rox?”

Roxas looked back up to Axel before coming aware of the shouting behind him. He recognised his brother’s voice and the voices that followed belonged to the rest of the Silhouettes. 

They had survived.

Roxas spun around saw Sora running across the terrace towards him with the others following him and his face broke into a grin and he waved his arm “Sora! Hey!”

He went to scramble up to his feet but Axel grabbed his arms and forced him back down to look at Roxas.   
His face was worried and Roxas frowned and began to feel a little bit worried “Axel what is it?”  
Axel sighed and he sunk his fangs into his lower lip and his eyes went dark with guilt “Well, I didn’t have a choice, you weren’t going to like it- it’s not so-…” 

Roxas rolled his eyes “Stop with the yabbering Axel and just tell me.”

Axel sighed and looked down to the grass and began to pull out hunks of grass muttering something unintelligible. Roxas snapped “Axel just tell me dammit!”  
The pyro snapped his head up and he said in flat guilty voice.  
“Roxas, you died as well.”

Suddenly, all the anger inside him vanished and it was quickly replaced by devastation and confusion. “H-How?” he stammered in a small frightened voice before examining his ashen hands. He glanced back at Axel, his large eyes pricking with tears “Why?”

Axel scrambled for an answer before saying in a gush of words “When Xemnas impaled you Rox, you were dying and I couldn’t- I had no choice- everything we have been…” Axel shook his head frantically “I’m so sorry Roxas.”

The blonde was speechless and the words he wanted to say weren’t just coming out. Tears only came instead. He sat there frozen, even when his brother fell down beside him and gave him a bone crushing hug.  
“Roxas, you’re alright” he said in relief “I’m so happy I thought you-…”

Sora trailed off, and he pulled back. His large sky blue eyes widening in shock as he stared down to his motionless brother still sitting in the grass, then he looked to Axel who turned his head away. Then it dawned on him.

“You killed him!?” Sora asked incredulously “You turned him into one of YOU!” His voice rose to a shout and he lunged at Axel and knocked the Silhouette back and drew back his fist and smacked it into Axel’s face.

“How dare you” he shouted, drawing back his fist for another hit “Have you realised what you have done? Not only my brother but to my whole family?” Sora was overcome with boiling anger and all he wanted to do was to murder this Silhouette underneath him.

Axel made no move to fight back or knock the human off, he just turned his head to the side and he said in a saddened voice “I’m sorry Sora, I-I knew how much it would have hurt you but I did it anyway. All I can do is apologise.”

“I DON’T WANT YOUR APOLOGY!” Sora continued to shout “I JUST WANT MY BROTHER BACK TO NORMAL!” he lowered his fist though and looked back to his golden haired brother and he said “Rox? Roxas look at me.”

Roxas was oblivious to the world, his large eyes dull with shock. He sat there like a statue, he didn’t even respond to his brother. Motionless.

Sora got off Axel and hissed to the Pyro Silhouette “This is your fault; you selfish prick.” Then he went over and knelt beside his brother and put his hand on his shoulder. He was helpless and he didn’t know what to do.  
His heart clenched when he finally heard the voice of his mother coming closer.

“Roxas? Is that you honey? Are you alright?”  
She broke into a run and she fell beside her sons and gazed at Roxas before her face became one of horror and despair.

She began to shake and she tilted her sons chin up and gazed into his dull blue eyes. She inspected the black veins running under his translucent skin before tears welled up and fell onto her cheeks. She gazed at Axel getting up off the grass slowly and then she exploded;  
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” she shrieked, reacting the same way as her son. She grabbed Roxas head and crushed it to her breast and she sobbed “Oh my baby, please, please this can’t be happening.”

Her actions finally aroused a reaction from Roxas, who lifted his arms and wrapped them around his mother and his voice came out cracked “Mum, what do I do? What do I do?”  
Aerith let a wail escape her and she rocked back and forth “Everything will be ok baby, I promise; everything will be fine.”

Roxas fell back into silence and he stared blankly ahead while Aerith cried and Sora could only sit there and watch the scene helplessly.

The other Silhouettes had approached but stopped coming any closer when they saw the scene before them. Larxene gazed to Marluxia who shrugged helplessly and only Xigbar was idiotic to quote on what he saw.  
“Roxas-is-a…he’s one of us!” 

“No duh” Larxene muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes “If it isn’t Demyx; it’s you.”  
The blonde Silhouette took tentative steps forward, making sure it was ok to pass the humans. When she deemed it was safe, she ran to Axel and knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  
“Axel, are you ok?”

Axel rocked back and forth and he glanced up at the blonde and whispered “Oh Larx, I didn’t have a choice, I had to do it. Now look what I have done. I have broken yet another family.”   
“No!” Larxene protested shaking the pyro lightly “You haven’t broken this family, you didn’t break me or Nami either.”  
Axel looked distressed and his emerald gaze slid back to Aerith and Roxas “He’s going to be wrecked.”

…

Sora went to open his mouth to speak.  
No sound came out and he shut it   
He couldn’t fathom the words, he just…couldn’t speak.

He began to fidget and more tears began to sting his eyes. He wrung his hands together, and through the line of trees, a chilled breeze swept through and rustled through the brunette’s hair. He felt a chill race up his spine and he jerked his head and looked behind him.

Through the strengthening sunlight, he saw mist pouring from the trees and streaming through the grass and past the Silhouettes.   
It rose up and began forming shapes and it began to manifest.   
His mouth pursed and he saw the mist becoming more thick and profound and Sora’s sky blue eyes widened and he breathed out softly.  
“Riku..?”

One by one; Riku, Naminé, Kairi and the rest of the Spirits appeared.  
They seemed…different.  
Sora gazed at his three Spirit friends, he was confused. Then he saw it.  
They were happy.

They no longer had the large black rings around their eyes and the eternal sorrow that they seemed to emanate was gone. They were no longer bound by force to this world any longer.   
Sora knew what they were going to do and the sheer panic was unexpected when he yelped “No, no, no! You can’t.”

He drew attention to himself and Riku sighed and Naminé sent him a helpless look before Larxene piped up glaring at her sister “What have you done?”

The older Strife brother got to his feet and hobbled away from his mother and his younger brother and went to his three Spirit friends that he had grown close to over these past months. “We’re sorry Sora” Kairi said; reaching out her hand and putting it on Sora’s shoulder.  
“We are no longer bound by chains to this realm anymore, we are free and we can finally be in peace.”

Sora wanted to throw a tantrum and stamp his feet and pout but when Naminé looked up at him with her large azure eyes, he crumpled. “You wanted us to be happy Sora…didn’t you?” He hesitated and knew that he had been beaten and he whispered “Y-Yeah.”

The next retort came from the Silhouettes. “You can’t be happy” a sharp voice broke out, “I only just got you back and now I’m going to lose you again?” the blonde head of Larxene got up from beside Axel and glared at her little sister, her face twisting in anger and confusion. “You…really want to leave for good?” she asked and Naminé looked down to her sandalled feet and let her long blonde hair cover her face.

She didn’t answer her older sister

“Fine” the Silhouette whispered “I see how it is.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked to the trees to hide the fact that she was getting black veins up her cheeks and her large green eyes were going black and glassy as she grew more and more upset.

There was silence for a moment before there was a strangled cry from the Spirit girl and she darted forward and ran to her sister to throw her arms around her waist. “I love you!” she cried “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when you died… I should have been there.”  
Larxene finally let a real tear fall down her cheeks and she unfolded her arms and hugged her little sister.

Sora looked back to Riku glumly “I take it that everyone is going to leave the house now?” before the silver haired Spirit could answer, Sora’s question had evoked the first real and rather panicked reaction from Roxas.  
The blonde untangled himself from his mother and sprung to his feet and shouted desperately “Leave? Is everybody going to leave me?” 

The first true Silhouette features began to show in the blonde as he grew upset and angry. His translucent skin began to go dark with black veins and his sapphire eyes started to go black and long fangs appeared from underneath his upper lip.

Axel jumped to his feet to save the day and he wrapped his long arms around the panicking boy and said “No one will leave you Roxas, we will all be here for you, you need our help and support so we will stay.”

Roxas looked up at Axel his chest heaving and the black in his eyes melted away and they were clear and blue again within seconds. “You are going to stay-with-me?” The Pyro smiled down at him softly “Of course we are, I won’t leave you for the world.”

Sora’s attention went off his brother and back to Riku and with horror he began to realise that small, glittering particles were starting to peel away from his body and floating away. He was disintegrating right before his very eyes.  
Naminé, Kairi and the other Spirits were doing the same and Sora shouted “Riku, please don’t. I don’t want this to happen. I have so much I had to say to you.”

Riku looked at the brunette with sad turquoise eyes and in a soft voice he said “Well say them Sora. I’ll listen.” 

Sora hesitated and now that he was presented with an opportunity to say what he wanted to say to the Spirits, his questions left him in a flurry.   
“I’m sorry” he finally whispered pathetically “I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did, all you did was try to help me and my brother. You…You done so much for us.” He noticed the Spirit disappearing faster and Naminé came back over.

The girls both looked at each other before they instantaneously broke into tears and threw themselves at Sora. “We love you Sora!” they both chorused at the same time “Thank you for helping us gain peace with ourselves.”

Sora looked up again and Riku gave him a genuine smile “You made us respect our biggest enemy on another level, made us realise that we weren’t so different after all. Saved us from eternal pain and torment. Thank you Sora.”

“Riku” Sora whispered reaching out his hand, the Spirits disintegrated away and before Sora could reach out and grasp Riku’s hand, it burst into a flurry of silver sparkles and they were gone. To a place somewhere better.  
“Goodbye” Sora thought, letting the tears fall “Riku.”

…

It had been a Tuesday.  
Sora had remembered that much.  
After the fight that had happened up at the Mansion, the brunette Strife brother was losing the light that he held within him. He was partly full of murderous rage, most of which was directed at Axel.

The other half, he just felt hopeless and alone. Knowing the fact that he was going home to a Mansion that was firstly, minus his little brother and secondly, devoid of the Spirits that he had come to accept as his family.

 

After the initial ordeal, Roxas had barricaded the door to his bedroom shut. No matter how long Sora begged at the door, he never emerged. He was ashamed of himself into the demon that he had been turned into. He didn’t realise that this was hurting his family more than what he thought it was helping them.

Aerith seemed to take the fall the hardest. She became distant and confused, she hardly ever acknowledged Sora or Cloud, She often muttered to herself or would suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears.   
However, one thing was certain about her; she loathed the Silhouettes.

 

Cloud had no idea what to comprehend. He was a simple man and his head had imploded at the sights and stories that were told to him.  
All he summed up was this to put it bluntly. He had lost his youngest son. He was dead.

Sora dragged his feet up the long driveway, he lifted his head and through the hair in his face, Sora saw the large orange eyesore that was a moving truck.  
The family car was parked in front of it, doors wide open and boot lifted up.

Aerith and Cloud were dragging things from the front door and putting them on the truck. By the looks of it, they had been doing it all day, Without Sora even knowing.  
Aerith darted down the front stairs, her face red and puffy. She threw something in the already full car and slammed the boot shut.

A frown knitted across Sora’s face, he stomped forward towards his parents before demanding angrily “What do you think you are doing?”

Aerith faltered, she whispered, “Get in the car Sora.”  
“No!” Sora exclaimed “What the fuck? Mum what the hell do you think you’re doing?”  
“Sora just get in the car, I don’t want to fight with you.”

Realisation dawned upon the brunette, “You’re running away! You’re leaving Roxas behind!” Sora was livid; he threw down his schoolbag and pointed to Aerith accusingly “Your abandoning him, what kind of Mother are you? Abandoning her son?”  
…

The sky was grey and miserable. From the top window, a pair of sad blue eyes watched the car and the truck below.   
“Roxas? Are you alright?”

Axel manifested from the darkness and strode forward, closely followed by Zexion and Demyx.

The Silhouettes hadn’t gone unscathed through the fight, the Silhouettes wounded and sporting new injuries or scars.   
Zexion couldn’t even bring himself to conjure up a simple spell, he was still that drained of magical energy. A tiny spell could potentially put him into a coma.  
Demyx was Sitar-less and very down and depressed. His life was gone and he wasn’t going to get it back.

Axel walked up beside Roxas and looked down from the window and his face hardened. “So… she has done it after all.” Zexion shook his head “Despicable, who would do that? Especially in a dire time like…” the Master Magician was cut off by the blonde.

“She can do what she wants; she’s no longer comfortable here.”

His drew down to the scene where he saw the standoff between Sora and Aerith.  
Sora looked murderous, his eyes dark as he spat and shouted at his Mother. He pointed towards the house.  
Roxas was able to hear shouting, but he was too far away to hear the words being exchanged between the two. But it was obvious what was happening.

Aerith reached out to Sora who threw his arm away from her, his face pinched in disgust. He shouted at her angrily before Aerith burst into tears, she reached up and slapped her eldest son clean over the face.  
The shouting stopped.

Aerith pointed to the car and Sora looked towards the Mansion, he shook his head and folded his arms. Aerith’s voice grew louder and she kept pointing at the car, but when Sora refused again, Cloud came up behind him and grabbed his arms.

They forcibly dragged Sora to the car and Aerith picked up his schoolbag and threw it into the car after him.  
She walked around to her side and got in and Cloud started the engine and began to drive down the driveway.

It had come to this. They were leaving.   
The house was void.  
She had abandoned him.

“Hey look” Demyx said softly pointing to the sky “It’s snowing?”   
The Silhouettes looked up and saw that it was indeed snowing. As if the heavens were weeping frosty tears for the luckless Silhouettes.

Roxas let a single tear fall from his eye and it rolled down his cheek and onto the collar of his shirt as he watched his family shut those large metal gates behind them and the car disappeared behind the trees.  
They were gone

“Hey” Axel said, leaning down and kissing the top of Roxas’ golden hair “Things can only get better.”  
Roxas hoped so; there was not much else he could do.   
He was a Silhouette now and he was going to be one forever.

_Fin_


	34. Whispers of Redemption Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was the end of Silhouettes and now I am adding up a work that is titled 'Whispers of Redemption.' This is the second work of the Silhouette Series and I am still in the middle of writing chapters and updating them to Fan Fiction and now this website.
> 
> So, enjoy what I have to offer.

**Look outside your window**   
**Tell me what you see**   
**Do you see the world ending?**   
**Because to me… That’s all I see**

.::.

 **The house was silent; it stood up on the hill without breath of life.**   
**The last family, the Strife family had fled the house when two opposing Supernatural sides of Twilight Hill had risen up and consumed everything.**   
**The Silhouettes and the Spirits had split everything up including the family and in the end taking young Roxas’ life.**   
**The Spirits are finally at peace, the Silhouettes live on…**   
**This incident happened nineteen years ago.**

.::.

It was bordering up dusk when the sun sank beneath the house, it cast a long eerie shadow across the overgrown terrace. 

“Let’s hurry up and go inside the house before it gets too dark”

“You wimp, we are getting money if we do this, everybody says that this house is haunted but I don’t think so.”

Two boys reached the entrance gates and looked up the wrought iron bars that were choked by weeds and entangling vines. 

Jasper and Isaiah were sophomores at Twilight High. They were currently on a dare from fellow friends to venture up to the abandoned house on the hill.   
It was supposed to be haunted but they were only made up stories and Jasper wanted to prove everybody wrong.

It was an old house.

Isaiah on the other hand had listened to the tales circulating around the town. Apparently the Strife family that live on the other side of town had been the last owners of the house. They moved in with two sons and only came out with one. 

Jasper heaved himself upwards and the gates groaned under the weight. A screech echoed out when the steel scraped up against each other and he hissed, “Come on Isaiah, you gone chicken?”  
Isaiah frowned and put his torch in his pants and jumped up after his friend. They jumped down to the dirt road and they turned around to see the house loom above them on the hill.   
The sun quickly disappeared and the sky was streaked with violet and pink.   
The boys shuffled up the drive and the flashlights flickered to life.   
The light shone over a fountain caked with grass and flowers, the water had stopped long ago by the looks of it.  
Jasper shone his torch to the front door and Isaiah followed his gaze, the porch was overgrown with wild roses and the front door hung open revealing the insides of the house.  
The boys paused and stood at the porch stairs and they felt a gush of warm air envelop them. A groan came out and Isaiah jumped to Jasper’s side and gripped his arm. His friend pulled away and gave him a disgusted look “Gross, you wimp Isaiah, get away from me you girl.”

Isaiah gulped and bit back down the terror welling up and saw Jasper venture up the stairs and disappear into the depths of the house. The other boy was transfixed by fear shining his torch to the ground. He jumped violently when a hiss echoed from the doorway, “You haven’t gone all scaredy-cat on me have you Issy?”  
Isaiah shined his torch and saw Jasper cringe and cover his eyes when the light hit him in the face. He wanted to run away and go home, it was only a stupid bet, why had he agreed to come?

Jasper spun back around and shined his light around the house and heard Isaiah step beside him. Two golden beams of light illuminated the room in front of them. The house wasn’t completely empty, a lounge sat in the middle of the room in front of an empty entertainment unit that used to house a TV.   
The kitchen was still decorated in small ornamental statues and plates and cupboard doors hung open and Isaiah saw dishes and glasses still packed up neatly in the cupboards. A dining table set with four chairs sat beside the sitting area and as Isaiah walked over to the table he saw a handprint in the dust.  
It was definitely recent. 

He saw Jasper on the right hand side of the sitting area and he was gesturing to Isaiah wildly. The boy walked over cautiously and Jasper whispered pointing the light, “we haven’t been the only ones to come here Issy.”  
Two sleeping bags were lined up against the wall under a window. They must have belonged to squatters that came here a while ago. They were incredibly dusty and all Isaiah saw was one of the sleeping bags had been ripped by an animal of some sort.  
Two small bags of belongings sat beside the sleeping bags and Jasper picked up a wallet and looked inside. “This was the guy that used to live in the drains at Station Heights, remember him?” Jasper held out the wallet and Isaiah saw the ID was definitely a homeless man that had disappeared about four years ago.   
Isaiah’s torch wavered slightly and his eyes were drawn to the wood of the floorboards. Panic started to make his chest heave and he whispered hoarsely, “Uh Jazzy, look at this.”  
He shone the light and Jasper stepped over forgetting the wallet and mumbled, “Heck.” Long claw marks were gouged in the wood, but on closer inspection Isaiah saw a full fingernail embedded in the wood.  
A human fingernail.  
He jumped back letting out a wobbling cry and said, “A human done that? What happened?”  
Jasper snorted and said, “Probably a homeless guy came here and one was already here and they fought who got to set up residence here.” The boy shrugged and said, “Come on Issy lets keep exploring, we get a hundred bucks if we do this.”   
Isaiah let a cry mumble in his throat and tears started to sting the back of his eyes. “I don’t wanna do this anymore; I just want to go home.”  
Jasper sighed and he spun Isaiah around and rummaged through the backpack his friend had. He pulled out a video camera and said through grit teeth, “You sook, there is nothing wrong, we have to go up the stairs and just get footage of this stuff.”

Jasper flicked the camera on and waved it around the house, “Is this thing even on?” The lens adjusted and on the screen it showed the frightened face of Isaiah. Jasper chuckled and headed for the stairs, “Come on lets do this.”  
The boys walked towards the stairs, the darkness surrounded them as they reached the stairwell. The air got instantly muskier and nineteen years of dust billowed around the boy’s shoes.

The stairs creaked under the double weight and through the filming of the camera Jasper’s voice was heard saying in a soft monotone, “This place must be like ancient, look at all this junk.”  
The boys reached the top of the stairwell and Jasper handed the camera to Isaiah and pointed his light right down the dark hall. Every door in the hall hung open, either on hinges or lying flat on the ground. The attic door was pulled from the roof and the rungs of the ladder lie broken and scattered over the floor.

Isaiah swung his light around and whispered, “Come on Jazzy, maybe this isn’t a good idea, forget the money.” Jasper scoffed and ventured to a door on the left and peeked in, Isaiah had no choice but to follow.

He stopped at the door and Jasper walked in partly and said, “It’s a room, the bed and everything is still in here.” Isaiah glanced in and whispered, “Jazz, there’s a bathroom look inside that.”

Jasper walked to the ensuite of the bedroom and saw grime decorating the once white tiles. Broken plaster and tiles littered the floor. The showers door had been pushed in and leant up against each other and a gaping hole revealed the ancient plumbing.   
Isaiah backed to the door and said in a shaking voice, “let’s get the rest done and get out of here Jasper.”

Jasper backed out of the room and headed down the left hand side of the house, Isaiah glanced in with the camera, greeted by empty room after empty room. He sidestepped the rubble and Jasper pushed a door. They jumped back when it fell backwards, snapping the hinges and landed with a loud ‘bang’. Dust swept up in a cloud and gasping Jasper covered his nose and said in a muffled voice, “Looks like a Master bedroom.”  
Isaiah swung the camera around jumping when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The hairs at the back of his neck instantly began to prickle and he saw nobody. Jasper looked at him with an eyebrow quirked and said, “What! What’s the matter?”  
He hadn’t heard anything.  
Isaiah gulped and stared at the stairs a little longer then stammered, “n-nothing, I thought I heard something.” Jasper frowned at him and snorted, “It’s your imagination you baby, now hurry up, I need the camera.”

The camera started to wobble precariously in Isaiah’s hand as they wandered over to the other side of the house. A smashed bathroom was all that was seen when they turned from the bedroom up the front of the hall; Jasper went to a door that was firmly shut.

Isaiah stood some distance away as Jasper pushed up against the door. It was stuck.

**“How dare he, we should do something before he pisses them off, you know what Axel is like.”**   
**“Hush, it won’t be Axel I am worried about, you know how Roxas gets, he has really harnessed his power now.”**   
**“We can’t sit here and do nothing, I am going to try and scare them off.”**   
**“Demyx! Don’t - _sigh_ \- why do I even bother?”**

There was a rush of wind, followed by a low growl. Isaiah froze and squeaked to his determined friend. “Uh Jazz, did you just hear that?” he got a simple grunt in response as Jasper threw himself against the door.  
A bang echoed down the hall and Isaiah could only shiver with fear.  
All he wanted to do was leave. He was terrified. Just because Jasper wanted to prove himself against some stupid dare.  
He stared down the hall until he heard Jasper whisper, “Isaiah, get a load of this!” the small brunette boy spun around and he Jasper pointed to the bottom of the door. Isaiah pointed the camera down and with shock and wonder they saw the darkness from under door suddenly light up.  
It was like somebody had opened a window and the sunlight had flooded in.   
Thing was, it was getting later at night.

Isaiah heard another noise, it sounded like a footstep. He spin around and through the camera’s screen he was able to see a figure coming out of the darkness. It took a shape of a human and Jasper whispered beside him, “Do you see it too?”  
Isaiah let a wobbly cry escape his throat, his hand was shaking so badly that the camera started to wobble as well. The shape jerked towards them and Jasper let a yell of fright rip from his chest. He jumped about a foot in the air and barricaded back into the door. There was a shudder and the door slammed inwards.  
It slammed against the wall with an ear deafening bang and Isaiah spun around with a yelp. The light inside the room vanished and Jasper scrambled up and spun around. 

**“There is no way I’m going in there, Axel will flip the lid.”**  
 **“I told you not to do it Demyx, now; you will watch what will ensue.”**   
**“B-But Zex-.”**  
 **“NO! You will watch Demyx. Then you will deal with Axel and Roxas.”**

Isaiah was the first to recover and he lifted the camera and looked around the bedroom. It was semi empty, a large bed sat in the middle of the bedroom. A dusty bedside table sat beside it. A broken bookshelf sat in the corner and an empty TV cabinet stood against the wall.   
Other than that, it was empty. And incredibly dusty.

Isaiah swung the camera back to Jasper and whispered furiously, “This is what you wanted to see Jasper! Can we get out of here now?” Isaiah stepped back towards the door.   
They paused when there was a brief flicker of fire that danced in the corner of the room. Isaiah turned to camera to the corner and a small flame continued to burn. Jasper looked fearfully to his companion and they both backstepped to the door.   
They both jumped and screamed when the door slammed shut, Isaiah dropped the camera. It was still filming as it hit the floorboards.  
On the screen, behind the door stood a black clad figure.

It was a boy, he had wild golden spikes and his blue eyes were quickly dissipating and turning black. Red and black veins raced up his face and he opened his mouth, rows of sharp teeth glinted in the dimness. A loud hiss erupted out and a low raspy voice whispered out. “What are you doing here?”

Isaiah turned around desperately and let out a large yelp when he saw another black clad figure stepping beside them. He had fiery red hair that was even wilder than the boys. His face was deathly pale but his eyes were green and not black.  
He let out a fierce chuckle.   
“You boys are going to regret coming here, Roxas gets terribly unhappy.”

“Roxas!” Jasper gasped, “Roxas Strife, he’s the boy that died.” He cast a glance to the golden haired boy who let a frown cement his face.   
“How dare you” he rasped.   
His fists clenched at his sides; “You have no right to be here, then to come into my bedroom and say that I am”-  
He struggled with the word and the red head folded his arms and glared menacingly at the boys.   
“We aren’t dead you little bastards.”

Isaiah stepped over the floorboards, his voice wobbling and tears rolling down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry” he blubbered “We will go, wont we Jasper?”  
The smaller boy cast a fearful glance to his friend and was despaired when the arrogant boy stood defiantly.  
“Well you cant be dead can you? You are standing right in front of us. You shouldn’t even be here.”

The red head smirked “Then why are you here?”

Jasper pursed his lips together and Isaiah murmured “Jazzy they’re giving us the chance to run away!” 

Roxas scowled “And you lost that chance the minute you entered our house.” His face went a dark red colour and a soft golden light shone down his sleeves before wicked looking claws appeared.

“You will regret you ever came here.”  
He revealed long, sharp fangs and lunged.

*****

The abandoned Twilight Mansion that eerie night, erupted out in a long shriek. The front door swung open so hard that the old hinges snapped and the large wooden door fell to the balcony with a deafening ‘thud.’

Jasper let a scream rip from his chest, the blood still dripped from his cheeks and staining his shirt. He dashed for the metal gates and lunged at them, making them rattle noisily. He cleared the fence and disappeared down the road screaming;   
“Somebody help me!”


End file.
